• Employers must establish, implement, and maintain a written exposure control plan for workers exposed to beryllium.
• Beryllium may cause Chronic Beryllium Disease or lung cancer in workers who are exposed to it.

The employer must establish, implement, and maintain a written exposure control plan, which must contain nine items. See 1926.1124(f).

Where exposures are, or can reasonably be expected to be, at or above the action level, the employer must ensure that at least one engineering and work practice control found at 1926.1124(f)(2) is in place to reduce airborne exposure.

Employee exposure monitoring must be repeated within six months where employee exposures are at or above the action level but at or below the time-weighted average (TWA) permissible exposure limit (PEL), and within three months where employee exposures are above the TWA PEL or short-term exposure limit (STEL). The employer can discontinue exposure monitoring where employee exposures fall below the action level and STEL.

Employers can assess employee exposures using any combination of air monitoring data and objective data sufficient to accurately characterize airborne exposure to beryllium (i.e., the “performance option”).

Exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds can result in the following:

• Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD) is a serious pulmonary disease that can cause serious debilitation or death. Signs and symptoms of CBD can include shortness of breath, an unexplained cough, fatigue, weight loss, fever, and night sweats. Some workers may develop severe symptoms very quickly, while others may not experience signs and symptoms until months or years after their exposure to beryllium. CBD can continue to progress even after a worker has been removed from exposure. An individual must become sensitized to beryllium through inhalation or skin exposure before it is possible to develop CBD.
• Lung cancer is associated with occupational exposure to beryllium by inhaling beryllium- containing dust, fumes or mist. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) lists beryllium as a Group 1 carcinogen (causes cancer in humans), and the National Toxicology Program (NTP) lists beryllium as a known human carcinogen.