An innovative safety model and e-learning guide to working safely with beryllium throughout the industrial supply chain.

Over the past 10 years, Brush Wellman Inc., the primary beryllium producer, has partnered with the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) and others in conducting research to develop a beryllium safety model to prevent chronic beryllium disease. As the result of this research-to-practice partnership, a philosophically different worker protection model evolved based on the premise of addressing all routes and pathways of potential worker exposure.

Performance of the beryllium blood lymphocyte proliferation test based on a long-term occupational surveillance program.

Objective: Data from surveys of the general workforce and new employees at a beryllium manufacturer were used to evaluate the performance of the beryllium blood lymphocyte proliferation test (BeBLPT).

Methods: Over 10,000 results from nearly 2,400 participants collected over 12 years were analyzed using consistent criteria to describe the performance characteristics of the BeBLPT.

Results: Approximately 2% of new employees had at least one positive BeBLPT result at the time of hire, and approximately 1% of new employees with no known potential occupational or possible take-home exposures to beryllium were confirmed positive (two positive results) from the time of hire.

Exposure-response analysis for beryllium sensitization and chronic beryllium disease among workers in a beryllium metal machining plant.

The current occupational exposure limit (OEL) for beryllium has been in place for more than 50 years and was believed to be protective against chronic beryllium disease (CBD) until studies in the 1990s identified beryllium sensitization (BeS) and subclinical CBD in the absence of physical symptoms. Inconsistent sampling and exposure assessment methodologies have often prevented the characterization of a clear exposure-response relationship for BeS and CBD. Industrial hygiene (3831 personal lapel and 616 general area samples) and health surveillance data from a beryllium machining facility provided an opportunity to reconstruct worker exposures prior to the ascertainment of BeS or the diagnosis of CBD.