OSHA’s Final Rule on Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica
18/05/2016
On March 24th, 2016, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, OSHA, released a 1,772-page final rule on respirable crystalline silica.
The final rule is written as two standards, one for industry and maritime and one for construction, who have only until June 23rd, 2017 to comply.
Crystalline silica is a common mineral found in many naturally-occurring materials and used in many industrial products and construction sites.
Materials like sand, concrete, stone and mortar contain crystalline silica. Respirable crystalline silica is generated by operations like cutting, sawing, grinding, drilling and breaking concrete, rock, brick and block.
When any of the above operations are performed without administrative and engineering controls, the hazard of respirable silica exists for workers. Silicosis is a disease of the lungs caused by the chronic inhalation of silica dust.
OSHA states that this rule is necessary because the current permissible exposure limit (PEL) for silica is outdated, inconsistent and not adequate to protect workers health. OSHA states this, even though the mortality rate has dropped by 93% between 1968 and 2002 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Bang KM, Mazurek JM. Silicosis mortality, prevention, and control—United States, 1968–2002. MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2005;54 (16):401–5. [PubMed]).
CSDA has been part of a construction industry-wide group called the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC), which is made up of 25 different trade associations and a complete list of member organizations accompanies this article.
As part of this group, the focus for CSDA was to assist OSHA with coming up with a rule that is workable in construction through testimony and through submitting hundreds of pages of comment. From the beginning, the CISC and CSDA has stated that the new rule proposed by OSHA was both technologically and economically infeasible.
CSDA provides a number of safety resources to protect industry professionals.
The association has developed a Silica Data Analysis Chart (CSDA-BP-016) to help operators determine when a respirator should be used according to OSHA regulations. The chart identifies the type of cutting as well as location (indoor/ourdoor) to make it easy for the operator to comply with these regulations.
CSDA-BP-016 is available to all on the CSDA’s websiteunder the Architect and Engineer Resources section.
Links
