Does "Occupational Health and Environmental Controls" Apply to You?

Are your employees exposed to non-ionizing radiation? If yes, then you need to comply with the state-specific standard on occupational health and environmental controls in addition to the construction standard on non-ionizing radiation.

This North Carolina state-specific standard adds the following to paragraph (a) in the non-ionizing radiation standard; "This standard applies to all direct or reflected laser equipment except unmodified Class 1 equipment maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations." Note: This standard applies to the construction industry in North Carolina.

Class I equipment is defined as intrinsically safe lasers having less than 0.001-milliwatt power and lasers which cannot create eye damage if viewed accidentally or which present no direct ocular hazard, diffuse ocular hazard or fire hazards."

Non-ionizing radiation is defined as a series of energy waves composed of oscillating electric and magnetic fields traveling at the speed of light. Non-ionizing radiation includes ultraviolet (UV), visible light, infrared (IR), microwave (MW), radio frequency (RF), and extremely low frequency (ELF). Non-ionizing radiation does not have enough energy to remove an electron from an atom or molecule.

Reference safety and health topics page on radiation, ionizing and non-ionizing and fire protection and prevention.