Implications of OSHA's reliance on TLVs in developing the air contaminants standard

This paper evaluates the decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to base its Air Contaminants Standard on the threshold limit values (TLVs) of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. Contrary to the claim made by OSHA in promulgating the standard, the TLV list was not the sole available basis for a generic standard covering toxic air contaminants. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) presented data indicating that the TLVs were insufficiently protective for 98 substances. NIOSH Recommended Exposure Limits (RELs) were available for 59 of these substances. The ratio of PEL to REL ranged up to 1,000, with a median of 2.5 and a mean of 71.4. OSHA excluded 42 substances from the standard altogether despite the availability of NIOSH RELs, solely because no TLV had been established.