A state board is considering the drastic move, which could come as soon as May, after an outbreak of the lung disease silicosis among countertop fabricators.
If you use a wet stone or grinder, you still make fine particles. When these dry up and become powder again you can get infected. You can’t get rid of the dust in such a way that it doesn’t become a problem for someone else.
Sure can, you just use vacuums or air suction to filter it and it goes in bags. And generally a powder like that will be very different after getting wet, it’s more likely to clump together and not be as dusty anyway.
That’s not always true. For example concrete/cement would be great at clumping and staying clumped. Silica on the other hand may not do that always. If you charge those particles with static from motion they won’t want to stick together. Or if they’re clumped and dry they’ll come apart again. If your particle size is smaller than 1um your vacuum will be literally blasting this stuff into fumes all over the place and well charged statically.
I’m curious why target common silicon dioxide (silica) when cheap $100 air quality monitors (including detection of static VOCs) exist that measure down to 0.3um. Wide application ranges at that low (unfilterable) range. From steam discharge monitoring, to oll vapours, to chemical fumes, to residential air quality on weather stations.
I think you’re placing too much faith in just the existence of good equipment to keep workers safe.
Good safe equipment does exist, But 1) It only works to protect employees health if it’s in good condition, and 2) Depending on employers who aren’t cheap enough or ignorant enough to use inferior equipment that will indirectly endanger employees’ health.
It’s more reliable just to require use of safe materials, especially if there isn’t much cost difference.
Particle counters are good. But they only tell you about what’s happening near the worksite. Remember the advice of walking 6ft apart so you wouldn’t catch covid, but then it turned out to be wack? Same here. You get a particle in the wrong place at the wrong time and you’ll develop cancer.
If you use a wet stone or grinder, you still make fine particles. When these dry up and become powder again you can get infected. You can’t get rid of the dust in such a way that it doesn’t become a problem for someone else.
Sure can, you just use vacuums or air suction to filter it and it goes in bags. And generally a powder like that will be very different after getting wet, it’s more likely to clump together and not be as dusty anyway.
That’s not always true. For example concrete/cement would be great at clumping and staying clumped. Silica on the other hand may not do that always. If you charge those particles with static from motion they won’t want to stick together. Or if they’re clumped and dry they’ll come apart again. If your particle size is smaller than 1um your vacuum will be literally blasting this stuff into fumes all over the place and well charged statically.
I’m curious why target common silicon dioxide (silica) when cheap $100 air quality monitors (including detection of static VOCs) exist that measure down to 0.3um. Wide application ranges at that low (unfilterable) range. From steam discharge monitoring, to oll vapours, to chemical fumes, to residential air quality on weather stations.
I think you’re placing too much faith in just the existence of good equipment to keep workers safe.
Good safe equipment does exist, But 1) It only works to protect employees health if it’s in good condition, and 2) Depending on employers who aren’t cheap enough or ignorant enough to use inferior equipment that will indirectly endanger employees’ health.
It’s more reliable just to require use of safe materials, especially if there isn’t much cost difference.
Particle counters are good. But they only tell you about what’s happening near the worksite. Remember the advice of walking 6ft apart so you wouldn’t catch covid, but then it turned out to be wack? Same here. You get a particle in the wrong place at the wrong time and you’ll develop cancer.
Air filters do just fine with silica dust, it clogs filters faster but just needs more bag changes.