On January 9, 2017, OSHA published its final rule Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds in the Federal Register (82 FR 2470). OSHA concluded that employees exposed to beryllium and beryllium compounds at the preceding permissible exposure limits (PELs) were at significant risk of material impairment of health, specifically chronic beryllium disease and lung cancer.  OSHA also concluded that the new 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) PEL of µg/m³ reduced this significant risk to the maximum extent feasible.  OSHA has evidence that beryllium exposure in construction and shipyards occurs almost exclusively during abrasive blasting and welding operations. OSHA is proposing to revise its standards for occupational exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds in the construction and shipyards industries. These proposed changes are designed to accomplish three goals: (1) to more appropriately tailor the requirements of the construction and shipyards standards to the particular exposures in these industries in light of partial overlap between the beryllium standards’ requirements and other OSHA standards; (2) to more closely align the shipyards and construction standards to the general industry standard, where appropriate; and (3) to clarify certain requirements with respect to materials containing only trace amounts of beryllium.