(1) Foreword.

(a) Modern industry is changing at an ever-increasing pace. New inventions, discoveries and developments cause changes in every facet of the industrial process. In keeping with this changing technology is the necessity to provide an adequate guide for the protection of working men and women. This chapter is for the guidance of both labor and management and to call particular attention to the way in which modernization and updating of the standards can be accomplished.

(b) This chapter is intended to cover as fully as is practical the environment in which work is performed. In addition to the suggestions made herein, the services of modern occupational medicine must also be considered. Occupational medicine with its specialized techniques for examination, diagnosis, and treatment adds another protection for the worker as he encounters newly-developed materials and methods.

(c) With the full realization that close cooperation between government and industry, labor and management, and all the health sciences, is essential, this chapter is promulgated for the health of all the workmen coming under the jurisdiction of the department of labor and industries.

(d) This chapter is promulgated in accordance with the applicable requirements as outlined in the Washington State Administrative Procedure Act (chapter 34.04 RCW) and other applicable statutes.