Section 325.51454. Exposure monitoring generally.

(1) An employer shall monitor to determine employee exposure to formaldehyde.

(2)   An employer shall not be required to monitor exposures if it can be documented, using objective data, that the presence of formaldehyde or formaldehyde-releasing products in the workplace could not possibly expose an employee at or above the action level or STEL under foreseeable conditions of use.

(3)     Employee exposure to formaldehyde shall be determined by representative monitoring for each job classification, in each work area, for each shift, and during the full shift or for a short-term exposure, as appropriate. Other work shift monitoring shall not be conducted if objective data can document equivalent exposures for different work shifts.

(4)    Monitoring shall be accurate, at the 95% confidence level, to within plus or minus 25% for airborne concentrations of formaldehyde at the TWA and the STEL and to within plus or minus 35% for airborne concentrations of formaldehyde at the action level.

History: 1990 AACS; 1993 AACS; 2014 AACS; Republished in 2015 MR 8, May 15, 2015 can be referenced to 2014 AACS.