CalOSHA has actually been pretty
serious
about enforcing its standards in the film industry. From your address,
Monona,
I’d guess that you are in
Mike Wright
Michael J. Wright
Director of Health, Safety and Environment
United Steelworkers
(412) 562-2580 work
(412) 370-0105 cell
(412) 562-2584 fax
mwright**At_Symbol_Here**usw.org
From:
Sent: Friday, January 28,
2011
1:03 PM
To:
DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Do
surgical
masks = 'respirators'?
GREAT ANSWER, John. I've printed it out.
But I'm
confused because clearly, I shouldn't put my workers in N95s if, say,
the dust
is way over 5X the TLV unless they are just running through the
workplace and
out the other side! The mask wouldn't last long at high
concentrations.
We have situations where they throw powdered mineral dusts into floor
fans all
day while shooting a scene that is supposed to be taking place after an
explosion or in a sand or dust storm. (Think: Planet of the Apes as an example.) We've had
workers
permanently disabled with lung fibrosis in two days shooting like that.
And add to these facts that even scenes that look like they were shot
outdoors,
may well have been shot indoors in a studio. That dust can be in
extremely
high concentrations in order to get the shot to look right.
The old 5X the TLV rule was very useful because I could do a guessimate
of
concentration from the weight of the material they hurl at the fan/hour
and
then nix the N95s.
I need some nice simple
statement
that even Producers could understand like the old 1995 rules to do two
things:
I've told them they need to do air monitoring during these shoots, but
a)
that's not going to happen, and b) it wouldn't be useful even if they
did
it. The reasons are that the concentrations of dust vary greatly
all over
the space and the pumps cannot be on during shooting due to the purr
they add
to the sound track. And you can't put personal monitors on the
actors at
all, yet they are the ones the dust is aimed at.
I need similar strategies for isocyanates in two-component urethane
resins and
paint spraying without a booth, lead fume when they blow up a car with
lead
azide (makes a nice black smoke), and the like. Just think of
ideas you
might have for some backward third world country, because that's about
where we
are.
Monona
In a message dated 1/27/2011 8:36:40 PM Eastern Standard Time,
jbcallen**At_Symbol_Here**MMM.COM
writes:
1. eliminate any dusts with really low TLVs for this purpose
2. get the Producer to upgrade to cartridge or full face in heavy
dusts--at least for the crew (actors are expendable, I guess).
Monona's statement below regarding the use of a HEPA Filter for
substances
having an Occupational Exposure Limit (OEL), e.g., PEL or TLV,
<0.05
mg/m
Except for certain OSHA Substance Specific Health Standards (general
industry
and construction) which call out the use of HEPA Filters (N100, R100 or
P100)
for respiratory protection (As, asbestos, Cd, cotton dust where CONC
>10
X PEL, Pb and 4,4,-methylenedianiline), the selection of filters is
dependent
upon whether when non-oil and/or oil-based particulate matter (aerosols)
are
present and filter efficiency is not specified, e.g., Cr(VI).
Although N95 FFRs are the most widely used, FFRs are not just those with
a
Classification as N95. They can be N99 or N100, R95, R99 and R100 as
well as
P95, P99 and P100.
The use of N95 FFRs <5 x OEL (PEL) applies only to the Cotton
Dust
Standard. Per the Assigned Protection Factor (APF) Table 1 in the
OSHA
Respiratory Protection Standard, 29 CFR 1910.134(d)(3)(i)(A), FFRs are
half
facepieces and have an APF = 10 as do elastomeric (rubber-type) half
facepieces.
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