Protective equipment during marine oil-spill response

September 11, 1995

Mr. John A. Redden
Director, Health and Safety
Marine Spill Response Corporation
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Redden:

This is in response to your letter dated May 3, requesting interpretation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements for personal protective equipment (PPE) to be used during marine oil spill emergency response operations. You stated in your letter that slips, trips, falls, and heat stress pose the greatest potential for injury and illness during these operations and requested that the PPE requirements of paragraphs (q)(3)(iii) and (q)(3)(iv) of OSHA's Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) standard (29 CFR 1910.120) be modified or interpreted to minimize these hazards.

In your letter and subsequent telephone conversations, you emphasized that MSRC [Marine Spill Response Corporation] primarily responds to #6 fuel oil, crude oil, and jet fuel marine spills, and that airborne concentrations of hazardous chemicals resulting from these types of marine spills typically dissipate within 2 hours of a spill. You stated that both MSRC's experience and site surveys conducted during emergency response operations indicate that inhalation hazards at these spills no longer exist by the time your response team reaches the spill site. In addition, MSRC emergency response procedures prohibit response team personnel from entering a spill area until airborne concentrations of hazardous chemicals fall below the action level.

Given the minimal inhalation hazards and the potential for injuries or illnesses resulting from slips, trips, falls, and heat stress during marine oil spill response operations, you suggest that OSHA modify or provide interpretive guidance for the PPE requirements of paragraph (q)(3)(iii) of the HAZWOPER standard. As written, the paragraph requires that "[b]ased on the hazardous substances and/or conditions present, the individual in charge of the ICS [Incident Command System] shall ... assure that the personal protective equipment worn is appropriate for the hazards to be encountered." OSHA believes that this performance-based language already allows MSRC the flexibility to select the PPE necessary to protect MSRC employees from the hazards that exist during marine oil spill response activities. Under this paragraph, MSRC must evaluate the hazards (including slips, trips, falls, and heat stress) present during the response operation and must select PPE to protect against those existing hazards. If MSRC determines that inhalation hazards are not present, then using PPE to protect against inhalation hazards would be unnecessary.

In evaluating the need for PPE to protect against chemical hazards, however, MSRC must consider all potential chemical components present in the oil as well as the potential for both inhalation and dermal exposures. For instance, significant adverse health effects are associated with chronic, low-level airborne exposures to both hydrogen sulfide and benzene. In addition, some solvents in crude oil are skin irritants and/or potential carcinogens and may cause contact dermatitis or skin cancer through prolonged or chronic dermal absorption; exposure to the sun, which is common in your work, can accelerate these effects. OSHA's nonmandatory guidelines for conducting a work hazard assessment and selecting PPE, available in OSHA's revised personal protective equipment standards (29 CFR 1910, Subpart I, Appendix B), provide further information that may assist you in the selection of appropriate PPE. Please note that 29 CFR 1910.132(d) mandates the employer to perform a hazard assessment of the workplace to determine if the use of PPE is necessitated; select and mandate employee use of the necessary PPE; communicate selection of PPE decisions to employees; and select PPE that properly fits the employees.

Regarding the respiratory protection requirements of 1910.120(q)(3)(iv), OSHA's intent in requiring self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) where an inhalation hazard may exist is to protect employees from undetermined airborne levels of hazardous substances until the nature and level of potential airborne exposures have been evaluated. As discussed above, your letter indicates that MSRC responds primarily to marine spills of three specific grades of oil, and, through experience (including site surveys), has determined that inhalation hazards resulting from these spills no longer exist by the time the response team reaches the spill site. Your letter further explains that the use of SCBA under these circumstances unnecessarily contributes to the slips, trips, falls, and heat stress hazards associated with your operations. Therefore, you suggest that marine oil spill site survey personnel would be more appropriately protected if supplied air systems were made available for immediate use at the site and if real-time monitoring equipment were used on site to detect the presence of organic vapors, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, benzene, and oxygen-deficient environments. Again, OSHA believes that the existing language of the HAZWOPER standard allows MSRC flexibility in protecting its employees from the hazards present in their work environment. In this case, paragraph (q)(3)(iv) requires the use of SCBA where an inhalation hazard or a potential inhalation hazard exists until the ICS determines through air monitoring that a decreased level of respiratory protection will not result in hazardous exposures. If MSRC has already determined through past experience and documented site surveys (air monitoring results) that inhalation hazards or potential inhalation hazards no longer exist by the time MSRC's response team reaches the site of a marine spill involving #6 fuel oil, crude oil, or jet fuel and if no other atypical circumstances exist that could increase potential airborne concentrations of hazardous chemicals, then the use of SCBA would not be required. If any unknown or uncharacterized chemicals or circumstances are involved in the spill, however, then the use of SCBA would be required until air monitoring results adequately characterized the inhalation hazards and indicated that reduced levels of protection were appropriate.

We hope that this response clarifies OSHA's PPE requirements during marine spill response operations. If you have additional questions, please contact OSHA's Office of Health Compliance Assistance, MaryAnn Garrahan at (202) 693-2190.

Sincerely,
John B. Miles, Jr.
Director
Directorate of Compliance Programs

[Requester letter and supporting materials reproduced on OSHA page; omitted here.]