Asbestos - Washington

Washington’s state requirements regarding asbestos include a substantial amount of regulatory information beyond the federal requirements. A summary of the additional requirements includes the following:

• Washington’s asbestos regulations apply to all occupational exposure to asbestos, including general industry, construction work, and ship repairing, shipbuilding, and shipbreaking operations. (NOTE: The information below does not include Washington state requirements specifically related to construction and ship repairing, shipbuilding, and shipbreaking operations.)
• Initial employee exposure monitoring must be at the initiation of each asbestos job.
• Employers must conduct daily monitoring that is representative of the exposure of each employee who is assigned to work within a regulated area. Exception: When all employees within a regulated area are equipped with full facepiece supplied-air respirators operated in the pressure-demand mode equipped with either an auxiliary positive pressure self-contained breathing apparatus or a HEPA filter, employers may dispense with the daily monitoring.
• Monitoring must be performed by persons having a thorough understanding of monitoring principles and procedures and who can demonstrate proficiency in sampling techniques.
• All Class I, II and III asbestos work must be conducted within regulated areas. All other operations covered by the asbestos standard must be conducted within the regulated area where airborne concentrations of asbestos exceed or can reasonably be expected to exceed permissible exposure limits. The regulated area must be demarcated in any manner that minimizes the number of persons within the area and protects persons outside the area from exposure to airborne asbestos. Where critical barriers or negative pressure enclosures are used, they may demarcate the regulated area. All persons entering a regulated area must be supplied with and required to wear protective clothing. Employers must determine if a permit-required confined space hazard exists and take any necessary precautions.
• Acceptable engineering controls and work practices include but are not limited to the following:
• • local exhaust ventilation equipped with HEPA filter dust collection systems;
  • vacuum cleaners equipped with HEPA filters;
  • enclosure or isolation of processes producing asbestos dust;
  • use of wet methods, wetting agents, or removal encapsulants to control employee exposures during asbestos handling, mixing, removal, cutting, application, and cleanup;
  • prompt disposal of wastes contaminated with asbestos in leak-tight containers;
  • use of work practices or other engineering controls that the Department of Labor and Industries can show to be feasible.
• High-speed abrasive disc saws that are not equipped with appropriate engineering controls must not be used for work related to asbestos.
• In addition to the federal requirements, respirators must be used during work operations in all regulated areas and work operations whenever employee exposure exceeds the permissible exposure limits.
• Employers must inform any employee required to wear a respirator that the employee may require the employer to provide a tight-fitting, powered, air-purifying respirator instead of any required negative-pressure respirator.
• Employers must ensure that the employee uses the respirator provided.
• When airborne concentrations of asbestos are greater than 100 f/cc, and employers must provide a full facepiece supplied-air respirator operated in pressure demand mode, the respirator may be equipped with HEPA filter egress cartridges instead of an auxiliary positive pressure self-contained breathing apparatus.
• For each employee wearing negative pressure respirators, employers must perform either quantitative or qualitative face fit tests at the time of initial fitting and at least annually thereafter. The qualitative fit tests may be used only for testing the fit of half-mask respirators where they are permitted to be worn. Any supplied-air respirator facepiece equipped with a back-up HEPA filter egress cartridge must be quantitatively fit tested.
• Before authorizing or allowing any construction, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, repair, or demolition project, an owner or owner's agent must perform, or cause to be performed, a good faith inspection to determine whether materials to be worked on or removed contain asbestos. The inspection must be documented by a written report maintained on file and made available upon request to the Department of Labor and Industries. The good faith inspection must be conducted by an accredited inspector. The good faith inspection is not required if the owner or owner's agent is reasonably certain that asbestos will not be disturbed by the project or the owner or owner's agent assumes that the suspect material contains asbestos and handles the material in accordance with state requirements.
• The owner or owner's agent must provide, to all contractors submitting a bid to undertake any construction, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, repair, or demolition project, the written statement either of the reasonable certainty of nondisturbance of asbestos or of assumption of the presence of asbestos. Contractors must be provided with the written report before they apply or bid to work.
• Upon written or oral request, building or facility owners must make a copy of the required written report concerning the presence of asbestos available to the Department of Labor and Industries and the collective bargaining representatives or employee representatives of any employee who may be exposed to any asbestos or asbestos-containing materials. A copy of the written report must be posted conspicuously at the location where employees report to work.
• In addition to the federal requirements for warning labels, Washington requires that such labels:
• • be affixed to asbestos waste containers;
  • be printed in large, bold letters on a contrasting background; and
  • contain the words “avoid breathing airborne asbestos fibers.”
• Only certified asbestos workers may work on an asbestos project, and only certified asbestos supervisors may supervise asbestos abatement projects. In cases where certification requirements do not apply, all employees must be trained regardless of their exposure levels. Certification is not required for asbestos work on materials containing less than one percent asbestos.
• Concerning periodic medical examinations, if the examining physician determines that any of the examinations should be provided more frequently than specified, the employer must provide such examinations to affected employees at the frequencies specified by the physician.
• The record kept of all measurements taken to monitor employee exposure to asbestos must include, among other things listed by OSHA’s Asbestos regulation:
• • name of the employer;
  • name of the person conducting monitoring;
  • address of the operation or activity;
  • personal or area sample;
  • type of protective devices worn, if any;
  • pump calibration date and flow rate;
  • total volume of air sampled;
  • name and address of the analytical laboratory; and
  • date of analysis.
• Employers must maintain records for the duration of employment plus 30 years.
• Employee medical surveillance records must include, among other things, a copy of the employee's medical examination results, including the medical history, questionnaire responses, results of any tests, and physicians recommendations.
• Where the building owner and employer have relied on data to demonstrate that presumed asbestos-containing material (PACM) is not asbestos-containing, such data must be maintained for as long as they are relied upon to rebut the presumption. Where the building owner has communicated and received information concerning the identification, location, and quantity of asbestos-containing material (ACM) and PACM, written records of such notifications and their content must be maintained by the building owner for the duration of ownership and must be transferred to successive owners of such buildings/facilities.
• When collecting samples using a 25-mm diameter cassette, an air flow rate of between 0.5 liter/min and 4.0 liters/min must be selected. If the 37-mm cassette is used, the selected air flow rate must be between 1 liter/min and 4.0 liters/min.
• Washington Administrative Code Title 296, Ch. 65, Asbestos Removal and Encapsulation, regulates asbestos removal and encapsulation of any materials containing more than one percent asbestos, requires contractor certification, specifies minimum training for supervisors and workers on asbestos projects, requires notification of asbestos projects, and establishes a training course approval program.

To ensure that you are in compliance with these requirements, click on the following links to view the state and federal regulations regarding asbestos:

Asbestos

Washington:
WAC 296-62-077 Asbestos, tremolite, anthophyllite, and actinolite

• WAC 296-62-07701 Scope and application
• WAC 296-62-07703 Definitions
• WAC 296-62-07705 Permissible exposure limits (PEL)
• WAC 296-62-07706 Multi-employer worksites
• WAC 296-62-07709 Exposure assessment and monitoring
• WAC 296-62-07711 Regulated areas
• WAC 296-62-07712 Requirements for asbestos activities in construction and shipyard work
• WAC 296-62-07713 Methods of compliance for asbestos activities in general industry
• WAC 296-62-07715 Respiratory protection
• WAC 296-62-07717 Protective work clothing and equipment
• WAC 296-62-07719 Hygiene facilities and practices
• WAC 296-62-07721 Communication of hazards to employees
• WAC 296-62-07722 Employee information and training
• WAC 296-62-07723 Housekeeping
• WAC 296-62-07725 Medical surveillance
• WAC 296-62-07727 Recordkeeping
• WAC 296-62-07728 Competent person
• WAC 296-62-07733 Appendices
• WAC 296-62-07735 Appendix A WISHA reference method – Mandatory [Editor’s Note: WISHA changed its name to Washington Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) in April 2006.]
• WAC 296-62-07737 Appendix B Detailed procedure for asbestos sampling and analysis – Nonmandatory
• WAC 296-62-07741 Appendix D Medical questionnaires – Mandatory
• WAC 296-62-07743 Appendix E Interpretation and classification of chest roentgenograms – Mandatory
• WAC 296-62-07745 Appendix F Work practices and engineering controls for automotive brake and clutch inspection, disassembly, repair and assembly – Mandatory
• WAC 296-62-07747 Appendix G Substance technical information for asbestos – Nonmandatory
• WAC 296-62-07749 Appendix H Medical surveillance guidelines for asbestos – Nonmandatory
• WAC 296-62-07751 Appendix I Work practices and engineerging controls for Class I asbestos operations – Nonmandatory
• WAC 296-62-07753 Appendix J Polarized light microscopy of asbestos – Nonmandatory
• WAC 296-62-07755 Appendix K Smoking cessation program information for asbestos, tremolite, anthophyllite, and actinolite – Nonmandatory

WAC 296-65 Asbestos removal and encapsulation

• WAC 296-65-001 Purpose and scope
• WAC 296-65-003 Definitions
• WAC 296-65-005 Asbestos worker training course content
• WAC 296-65-007 Asbestos supervisor training course content
• WAC 296-65-010 Asbestos worker certification
• WAC 296-65-012 Asbestos supervisor certification
• WAC 296-65-015 Training course approval
• WAC 296-65-017 Contractor certification
• WAC 296-65-020 Notification requirements
• WAC 296-65-025 Fees
• WAC 296-65-030 Methods of compliance
• WAC 296-65-035 Reciprocity
• WAC 296-65-050 Denial, suspension, and revocation of certificates

RCW 49.26 Health and safety—Asbestos