Case study: working safely with beryllium oxide

At the facility studied, only two air samples out of 110 were above the detection limit, and none was close to the California PEL. Even though we found no beryllium levels close to the PEL, the facility could still easily make a number of changes that would add extra assurance it is not likely to find measurable levels in the future. Some would require extra work, to be sure, and there could be some limited expense. However, if you are working with BeO, chances are you are already doing many of them and, in many cases, other industrial materials will require similar controls. We think most of our downstream users will have similar results, and we plan further case studies to demonstrate it to everyone.