Hydrogen Sulfide

Standards

Hydrogen sulfide exposure addressed in specific OSHA standards for general industry, maritime, and construction. This section highlights OSHA standards and documents related to hydrogen sulfide.

OSHA Standards

General Industry (29 CFR 1910)
General Industry (29 CFR 1910)		Related Information
1910 Subpart G - Occupational Health and Environmental Control		Related Information
	1910.94, Ventilation.	Related Information
1910 Subpart H - Hazardous Materials
1910 Subpart H - Hazardous Materials	1910.119, Process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals.	Related Information
1910 Subpart I - Personal Protective Equipment
1910 Subpart I - Personal Protective Equipment	1910.134, Respiratory protection.	Related Information
1910 Subpart J - General Environmental Controls
1910 Subpart J - General Environmental Controls	1910.146, Permit-required confined spaces.	Related Information
1910 Subpart Z - Toxic and Hazardous Substances
	1910.1000, Air contaminants.	Related Information
	1910.1200, Hazard Communication.	Related Information
	1910.1450, Occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals in laboratories.	Related Information

Maritime (29 CFR 1915, 1917, 1918)
Maritime (29 CFR 1915, 1917, 1918)		Related Information
1915 Subpart B - Confined and Enclosed Spaces and Other Dangerous Atmospheres in Shipyard Employment		Related Information
	1915.12, Precautions and the order of testing before entering confined and enclosed spaces and other dangerous atmospheres.	Related Information
1915 Subpart Z - Toxic and Hazardous Substances
1915 Subpart Z - Toxic and Hazardous Substances	1915.1000, Air contaminants.	Related Information
1917 Subpart A - Scope and Definitions
1917 Subpart A - Scope and Definitions	1917.1, Scope and applicability.	Related Information
1917 Subpart D
1917 Subpart D	1917.73, Terminal facilities handling menhaden and similar species of fish (see also §1917.2, definition of hazardous cargo, material, substance or atmosphere).	Related Information
1918 Subpart A
1918 Subpart A	1918.1, Scope and application.	Related Information
1918 Subpart I
1918 Subpart I	1918.94, Ventilation and atmospheric conditions (See also §1918.2, definitions of Hazardous cargo, materials, substance or atmosphere and Ro-Ro operations). See paragraph (f) for information specific to catch of menhaden and similar species of fish.	Related Information

Construction (29 CFR 1926)
Construction (29 CFR 1926)		Related Information
1926 Subpart D - Occupational Health and Environmental Controls		Related Information
	1926.55, Gases, vapors, fumes, dusts, and mists.	Related Information
1926 Subpart S - Underground Construction, Caissons, Cofferdams, and Compressed Air
	1926.800, Underground Construction	Related Information

State Plan Standards

There are 29 OSHA-approved State Plans operating state-wide occupational safety and health programs. State Plans are required to have standards and enforcement programs that are at least as effective as OSHA's and may have different or more stringent requirements.

Additional Letters of Interpretation

Note: The letters in this list provide additional information that is not necessarily connected to a specific OSHA standard highlighted on this Safety and Health Topics page.

Interpretation of OSHA requirements for personal protective equipment to be used during marine oil spill emergency response operations (September 11, 1995).
Post-emergency response and medical surveillance requirements of HAZWOPER (August 05, 1993).
Fires involving spills or releases of hazardous substances (June 17, 1991).
Interpretation of "high degree of acute toxicity" under the laboratory standard (July 30, 1990).
Potentially Hazardous Amine Absorber Pressure Vessels Used in Refinery Processing (April 11, 1986).
OSHA's policy on classification of a wet well as a Class 1, Division 1 location (November 05, 1979).

General Industry: 29 CFR 1910.1000 TABLE Z-2, Toxic and hazardous substances
Exposures must not exceed 20 parts per million (ppm) (ceiling) with the following exception: if no other measurable exposure occurs during the 8-hour work shift, exposures may exceed 20 ppm, but not more than 50 ppm (peak), for a single time period up to 10 minutes.
Construction: 29 CFR 1926.55 Appendix A, Gases, vapors, fumes, dusts, and mists
Sets exposure limit of 10 ppm (15 mg/m³) time-weighted average (TWA)
Shipyard: 29 CFR 1915.1000 Table Z, Air contaminants
Sets exposure limit of 10 ppm (15 mg/m³) TWA

Other Exposure Limits for Hydrogen Sulfide

NIOSH Recommended Exposure Limit (REL): 10 ppm, 10-minute ceiling

Concentration considered immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH): 100 ppm

ACGIH^® recommends a threshold limit value (TLV^®) of 1 ppm as an 8-hour time weighted average (TWA) and a short-term exposure limit (STEL) of 5 ppm.

29 CFR 1910.119 App A, List of highly hazardous chemicals, toxics and reactives (mandatory). Hydrogen sulfide is included in these lists of toxic and reactive highly hazardous chemicals and is considered to present a potential for a catastrophic event at or above 1500 pounds.