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Occupational Safety and Health Administration New Notification Requirements for Owners of Buildings Containing Asbestos

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June 1996

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published a new rule governing occupational exposures to asbestos. As part of this rule, OSHA is imposing new notification requirements on owners of buildings containing asbestos. The new requirements are as follows:

Non-Construction Related Requirements:

  • Building and facility owners must notify employers of employees who will perform housekeeping activities in areas that contain asbestos-containing material (ACM) or presumed ACM (PACM) of the presence and location of ACM or PACM in those areas.
  • Employers must notify employees who will perform housekeeping activities in areas that contain ACM or PACM of the presence and location of ACM or PACM in those areas.Construction Related Requirements:
  • Before commencement of construction work, building owners must identify the presence, location and quantity of ACM and PACM, and notify the following persons:
  • Prospective employers whose employees will work in or adjacent to areas containing ACM or PACM;
  • Employees of the owner who will work in or adjacent to areas containing ACM or PACM;
  • On multi-employer worksites, all employers of employees who will work in or adjacent to areas containing ACM or PACM; and
  • Tenants who will occupy areas containing ACM or PACM.For both construction and non-construction related activities, building and facility owners must maintain records of all information required to be provided concerning the presence, location and quantity of ACM and PACM in the building or facility. Such records must be kept for the duration of ownership and must be transferred to successive owners.

The new asbestos rule also changes many other requirements pertaining to occupational exposures to asbestos. These changes include, among others, the following:

  • A lowering of the permissible exposure limit to 0.1 fiber of asbestos per cubic centimeter of air over eight hours.
  • New maintenance and housekeeping requirements with respect to asbestos-containing flooring.
  • New awareness training requirements for maintenance personnel.
  • A new regulatory scheme for construction activity that divides this activity into four classes and imposes different requirements for each class.
  • Revised monitoring and assessment requirements for construction activity.
  • New or revised work practice controls and protective equipment requirements for construction activity.

Clarifications and corrections to the original final rule were published in June and July of 1995. Although the permissible exposure limit took effect October 11, 1994, OSHA has deferred the start-up date for most of the other provisions, including the new notification requirements, to October 1, 1995.

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