BUSINESS TIP ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– UltraCare™ Penetrating Plus SB Stone & Porcelain Tile Sealer is a premium, natural- look, solvent- based pen- etrating sealer that uses VOC- exempt mate- rials and will provide maxi- mum protec- tion against most common stains for all interior and exterior natural stone (marble, limestone, sand- stone, slate, granite, travertine, etc.), unglazed porcelain and ceramic tiles, masonry, quarry tiles and cementitious grout. The product can also be used as a pre-grouting sealer. UltraCare Penetrating Plus SB Stone & Porcelain Tile Sealer was specially designed for dense stones such as gran- ite and unglazed porcelain tiles. It can be used on inte- rior and exterior applica- tions, and it meets all EPA and SCAQMD standards for VOCs. www.mapei.com Maryland adopted a wait-and-see approach before taking any action. Maryland was also apparently await- ing a decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on industry challenges to OSHA’s silica standard. The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a decision in December 2017 that rejected all industry challenges but remanded the standard back to OSHA for consideration of whether to include a medical removal pro- vision, a challenge raised by labor unions. After OSHA complained to Maryland about the delay in imple- menting a silica standard, Maryland safety and health officials responded that the state agency was waiting on OSHA to issue an amended standard to include medical removal provi- sions. Arizona, Hawaii, Utah, Wyoming also delay in adopting a corresponding standard Maryland is not alone, either. Arizona, Hawaii, Utah, and Wyoming have also failed to adopt a corresponding standard. These states may lack the financial resources and manpower to develop and promul- gate a corresponding safety standard on their own. If a lack of resources is a problem, however, the state could simply choose to enact a mir- ror image of the federal standard or promulgate a short 30-words-or-less regulation that adopts and incorpo- rates OSHA’s silica standard. None have done so. 30 TileLetter | May 2018