There are several organizations that enact laws & regulations to keep workplaces safe and efficient. The main organization in the US is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as they have legal power to fine you for not meeting their standards.
OSHA mandates that workplaces are safe and that air quality be maintained through “engineering and work practice controls,” where feasible. Installing high quality air filtration ensures that your entire facility, including employees, remains safe when dusts are present.
Limits set by OSHA are known as Permissible Exposure Limits (PEL) and they are legally enforceable. All limits are 8 hour time weighted averages (TWA), unless marked as ceiling limits (C) which are limits that may not be exceeded for any time.
Understanding the content of your airborne contaminants is key in improving your air quality and in meeting OSHA regulations. Failure to meet OSHA regulations can lead to serious fines, make an employer vulnerable to lawsuits, and other legal liabilities.
OSHA and other regulatory authorities follow the recommendations set out by other specialty organizations in their law-making activities. Some of the most prominent are:
ACGIH - American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists
NIOSH - National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
NFPA - National Fire Protection Association
EPA - United States Environmental Protection Agency
CSB - U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
Click on an industry at the top of the page, to see a breakdown of the regulations that apply to common processes and dusts/fumes within that industry. Please note, this is not a comprehensive list of all the regulations that apply to each industry, more just a list of commonly applicable regulations.