This TLV is 40 times lower than the current OSHA permissible exposure limit, reflecting the ACGIH analysis of best available peer-reviewed research data concerning how little airborne beryllium is required to cause sensitization and CBD.Because it can be difficult to control industrial exposures to beryllium, it is advisable to use any methods possible to reduce airborne and surface contamination by beryllium, to minimize the use of beryllium and beryllium-containing alloys whenever possible, and to educate people about the potential hazards if they are likely to encounter beryllium dust or fumes. It is important to damp wipe metallographic preparation equipment to prevent accumulation of dry particles. Sectioning, grinding, and polishing must be performed under sufficiently vented hoods equipped with special filters.On 29 January 2009, the Los Alamos National Laboratory announced it was notifying nearly 2,000 current and former employees and visitors that they may have been exposed to beryllium in the lab and may be at risk of disease. Concern over possible exposure to the material was first raised in November 2008, when a box containing beryllium was received at the laboratorys short-term storage facility.
At that time, most construction trades and industries were unaware of the potential risks associated with beryllium exposure.It occasionally killed early workers in nuclear weapons design, such as Herbert L. Anderson.Beryllium sensitivity testing was first performed as a cutaneous beryllium patch test in the early 1950s, but was discontinued due to the test stimulating sensitization or aggravating existing chronic beryllium disease. : 115 In the 1990s, the DOE began screening employees using the BeLPT test in facilities where beryllium was used, in order to take preventive measures against beryllium exposure; somewhat alarmingly, clerical staff who were never involved in handling the material had developed asymptomatic sensitivities.The 1954 Isaac Asimov short story "Sucker Bait" is largely concerned with a space colony dying of Beryllium poisoning. References
External links

ATSDR Case Studies in Environmental Medicine: Beryllium Toxicity U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
CDC – Research on Beryllium Sensitization and Chronic Beryllium Disease – NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic
Beryllium Network
Health-cares.net
Instant insight from the Royal Society of Chemistry examining the molecular basis of chronic beryllium disease
Rosner, David; Markowitz, Gerald E. (February 1987). "Ch. 7: Salem Sarcoid:The Origins of Beryllium Disease". Dying for work: workers safety and health in twentieth-century America. Indiana University Press. pp. 103–. ISBN 978-0-253-31825-1.