Download Occupational Exposure to Silica

Silicosis Prevention: Tool
Box Session
What is Silica?
 Composes
15% of Earth’s Crust
 Examples:
– Sand, Granite, other “Hard” rocks
 Quartz,
most common
 Crystalline Silica
– has a diagnostic X-ray diffraction
pattern
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Silica and Disease

250 Worker deaths per year
– (175 deaths/yr from trenching accidents)

Silicosis
Tuberculosis
Heart Disease



Lung Cancer?
– Suspect Hum. Carcinogen –A2 (ACGIH)
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Examples of Silica Exposures
in Construction
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Tuckpointing
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Controls for Silica
Types of Engineering Controls
 1.
Wet Methods
 2.
Ventilated Tools
 3.
Abrasive Blasting Controls:
– Alternate Media
– Alternate Processes
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Wet Methods: Joint Cutting
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Wet Methods: Portable Saw
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Wet Methods: Pre-planning
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Wet Methods: Block Cutting
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Engineering Control
2. Ventilation
 Portable
tools with dust exhaust:
– Surface Grinders
– Disc Grinders (tuck pointing)
– Crack chaser
– Scarifier
– Descaler
– Power chipping tools
 Retrofit
Dust hoods
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Control by Ventilation: Slab
Cutting
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Control by Ventilation: Hand
tools
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Control by Ventilation:
Tuckpointing
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Engineering Controls:
3. Substitute Abrasives
 Coal
slag (“black beauty”)
 Steel grit & steel shot
 Aluminum oxide
 Sodium Bicarbonate
– (baking soda)
 Dust
Suppressed Sand
 Frozen CO2
 Ag. Prod. (walnut shells, corn
cobs)
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Silicosis is not a Curable
Disease
 Prevention
is
critical
 Use
Safe
Work
Practices
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