Silicosis - A Primer for Workplace Prevention

1. Silicosis - A Primer for Workplace Prevention

2. The History of Silicosis • Reports of workers dying of silicosis - a disabling, non-reversible and sometimes fatal lung disease caused by inhaling dust containing silica - date back to ancient Greece. • During the Industrial Revolution of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, as farmers and immigrants took jobs in dusty foundries, mills and mines, exposures to silica significantly increased and consequently so did the disease’s prevalence.

3. The History of Silicosis • Studies in the 1910’s showed high rates of silicosis among the lead and zinc miners of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri where rocks and ores have been known to consist of more than 95% of silica. One study in 1915 showed that more than half of the 700 zinc miners sampled had silicosis.

4. The History of Silicosis • During the 1930’s outrage over silicosis heightened with the advent of the Hawk’s Nest incident, which has been called “America’s worst industrial disaster”. During a hydroelectric project through a West Virginia mountain, workers who were not provided any respiratory protection were exposed to very high contents of silica. Although it was current knowledge that the exposure to dust containing silica was known to be potentially fatal, sponsors’ of the project did nothing. Estimates of the number of deaths associated with this exposure range from 66 to a researcher’s study count of more than 700.

5. The History of Silicosis • Soon after the Hawk’s Nest incident, then Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins declared war on silicosis after a national conferences in 1936 and 1940 a film entitled “Stop Silicosis” was issued to help elevate the national agenda and promote the need to prevent silicosis.

6. The History of Silicosis • Almost 30 years later in response to the growing concern regarding workers’ safety, several new federal laws were passed in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s adopting rules that limited the exposure to silica dust. • Since that time deaths due to the exposure of silicosis have declined, however, the disease still claims more than 250 American workers and disabling countless others.

7. National Initiative to Prevent Silicosis • 1997 National Conference to Eliminate Silicosis - March 25th & 26th, 1997 • OSHA-MSHA-NIOSH Partnership • American Lung Association • Share Information • Share Statistical Information

8. What is Silicosis? • Silicosis is a disabling, nonreversible and sometimes fatal lung disease caused by overexposure to respirable crystalline silica. Silica is the second most common mineral in the earth’s crust and is a major component of sand, rock and mineral ores. Overexposure to dust that contains microscopic particles of crystalline silica can cause scar tissue to form in the lungs, which reduces the lungs’ ability to extract oxygen from the air we breathe. Typical sand found at thebeach does not pose a silicosis threat.

9. Types • There are three types of silicosis, depending upon the airborne concentration of crystalline silica to which a worker has been exposed: • Chronic Silicosis usually occurs after 10 or more years of overexposure • Accelerated silicosis results from higher exposures and develops over 5-10 years. • Acute silicosis occurs where exposures are the highest and can cause symptoms to develop within a few weeks or up to 5 years.

10. Where Do You FindSilica Dust? • Here are some examples of the industries and activities that pose the greatest potential risk for worker exposure: • construction (sandblasting, rock drilling, masonry work, jack hammering, tunneling) • mining (cutting or drilling through sandstone and granite • foundry work (grinding, moldings, shakeout, core room) • ceramics, clay, and pottery • stone cutting (sawing, abrasive blasting, chipping, grinding) • glass manufacturing • agriculture • shipyards (abrasive blasting) • railroad (setting and laying track) • manufacturing and use of abrasives • manufacturing of soaps and detergents

11. What Are the Symptoms & Complications of Silicosis • Chronic silicosis, the most common form of the disease, may go undetected for years in the early stages; in fact, a chest X-ray may not reveal an abnormality until after 15 or 20 years of exposure. The body’s ability to fight infections may be overwhelmed by silica dust in the lungs, making workers more susceptible to certain illnesses, such as tuberculosis. As silicosis progresses, you may exhibit one or more of the following symptoms: • shortness of breath following physical exertion • severe cough • fatigue • loss of appetite • chest pains • fever

12. What Can Employers Do to Prevent Silicosis? • Make a commitment to prevent silicosis at your worksites. • Comply with OSHA and MSHA regulations on respirable crystalline silica. If your employees are overexposed, reduce exposure levels through the use of engineering controls. While these controls are being installed, or if they are being repaired, provide appropriate respiratory protection. • Perform air monitoring of worksites as needed, and when required by law, and take corrective action when silica levels are excessive. Monitoring provides a basis for: • selecting and ensuring the effectiveness of engineering controls • selecting proper respiratory protection • seeing if work practices to reduce dust levels are effective • determining if a medical surveillance program is necessary

13. What Can Employers Do to Prevent Silicosis? • Install and maintain engineering controls to eliminate or reduce the amount of silica in the air and the build-up of dust on equipment and surfaces. Examples of controls include: exhaust ventilation and dust collection systems, water sprays, wet drilling, enclosed cabs, and drill platform skirts. Practice preventive maintenance because the extreme abrasiveness of the silica dust can damage the systems you install. • Substitute less hazardous materials than crystalline silica for abrasive blasting, when possible. Try to use automatic blast cleaning machines or cabinets that allow operating the machines from outside using gloved armholes.

14. What Can Employers Do to Prevent Silicosis? • Supply vacuums with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, and advise employees to vacuum, hose down, or wet sweep work areas, instead of dry sweeping • Train workers about health effects, engineering controls and work practices that reduce dust, the importance of maintenance and good housekeeping, as well as on the proper type and fitting of respirators. Make sure they know what operations and materials present a silica hazard. • Establish a written respiratory protection program. Outfit employees with appropriately selected, properly fitted, approved respirators when engineering controls alone are insufficient to keep exposures within safe levels. Be sure respirators are kept clean and properly maintained and that employees are trained in their use.

15. What Employers Can Do... • Provide medical examinations for employees who may be exposed to respirable crystalline silica, as recommended by NIOSH, and have X-rays read by a specialist in just diseases. Develop a plan for reducing exposures of employees whose X-rays show changes consistent with silicosis. • Report all cases of silicosis to state health departments and to MSHA, and record cases on OSHA logs, as required. • Post warning signs to identify work areas where respirable silica is present.

16. What OSHA and MSHA Regulations Apply? • OSHA enforces a permissible exposure limit, which is the maximum amount of airborne crystalline silica that an employee may be exposed to during an eight-hour work shift.. That amount is 10 mg/m(3) MSHA enforces its own exposure limits, has rules requiring controls for drills, and requires air sampling in certain situations. • Other relevant OSHA and MSHA regulations include: respiratory protection, posting of warning signs, housekeeping, recordkeeping or reporting of occupational illnesses, abrasive blasting, personal protective equipment, and training. OSHA has rules on hazard communication, safety and health programs in construction, and access to employee exposure and medical records.

17. What Can Workers Do to Prevent Silicosis? • Work with your employer to prevent silicosis at your worksite. • Use engineering controls installed by your employer to reduce silica dust levels, and make sure they are properly maintained. Tell your employer when they aren’t working properly. • Minimize dust by following good work practices, such as removing dust with a water hose or vacuum with a high-efficiency particulate filter rather than blowing it clean with compressed air, or by wet sweeping instead of dry sweeping. • Suggest to your employer to substitute less hazardous materials than crystalline silica for abrasive blasting. • Wear, maintain, and correctly use approved particulate respirators when engineering controls alone are not adequate to reduce exposures below permissible levels. Beards and mustaches interfere with the respirator seal to the face, making most respirators ineffective. • If you must sandblast, use type CE positive pressure abrasive blasting respirators.

18. What Can Workers Do to Prevent Silicosis? • Participate in air monitoring, medical surveillance, and training programs offered by your employer or when required by law. • Talk to your employer, employee representative, or union if you are concerned about the dust in your workplace. Ask for the results of air sampling done at your worksite. You may also contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). • As a reminder, whenever you work with toxic materials, it is always a sound practice to: • Change into disposable or washable work clothes at your worksite, if possible; shower, where available; and change into clean clothing before leaving your worksite. • Avoid eating, drinking, or using tobacco products in work areas where there is dust or other toxic materials. • Wash your hands and face before eating or drinking.

19. Mine Safety and Health Administration • MSHA prioritizes health risks in metal and nonmetal mines and allocates Agency resources according to ranking criteria described in the attached excerpt from its Program Policy Manual (“Sampling Policy for Airborne Contaminants and Nose”, Volume IV, pp 3-7). These criteria specify how often the Agency should sample mines based on their health hazards. The more serious the hazard, the more often a mine is sampled. The least hazardous mines are sampled only once every 5 years unless a more serious problem is identified through an inspection or employee complaint. • When the Agency Ranks a mine, it considers the history of overexposure, the type of process, and the commodity. Ground silica and industrial sand operations are always ranked “A” requiring annual sampling. Among other mines with “A” ranking are those with lead, asbestos, mercury, or cadmium as products or by-products.

20. Sampling Policy for Airborne Contaminants and Noise • At least annually, enforcement personnel in each Metal and Nonmetal office shall review a printout of the Personal Exposure Data Summary (PEDS) listing samples taken at the mines in their jurisdiction over the past 5 years. Based on this review and all other relevant information, each mine shall be ranked and sampled according to the criteria and frequencies indicated (in Paragraph B). This policy applies equally to all mines, full-time, seasonal, and intermittent. • In general, personal full-shift exposure samples shall be taken. • Miners shall be sampled for every contaminant to which they are likely to be significantly exposed. “Significant” exposure is one-half the permissible exposure limit (PEL). Citations are issued for exposures in excess of 1.2 times the PEL.

21. Sampling Requirements • Samples for the appropriate metallic elements (dust or fume) are required where metal ores are mined and/or processed. This includes by products, regardless of whether they are recovered. • Samples for other minerals that have exposure limits of their own (cristobalite, mica, talc, etc.) are required where such minerals are mined and/or milled. • Where process chemicals are used, gases and vapors associated with the chemical(s) must also be sampled. Samples for particulates, toxic gases, andvapors are required wherever miners are likely to experience significant exposure.

22. Minimum Sampling Requirements • The number of employees does not include office workers or workers who “come and go” from the property; it does include laborers, maintenance workers, technical and managerial personnel, etc., whose tasks are performed throughout the facility. • A rank shall be assigned to each mine for respirable crystalline silica and for noise. Ranking for other contaminants is required when there is an exposure limit for the mined ore or mineral, its byproducts or primary process reagents, or whenever the contaminant meets a criterion in Rank A or B.

23. Workplace SilicosisPrevention Program • Management Commitment • Exposure Monitoring • Medical Surveillance • Analysis and Evaluation of Data • Awareness Training

24. Risk Assessment • Where are the Potentials for Silica Exposure? • What Part of the Operation has the Highest Potential for Exposure? • How and Why are Employees Exposed to Silica? • What Engineering Controls are In Place? • What Does OSHA or MSHA Data Regarding Exposure Indicate? • What is the Typical Length of Service of Employees who have the Highest Potential to be Exposed to Silica?

25. Determine if... • If there is a Real Risk of Silicosis in your Company • Where the Highest Potential for Silica Exposure is Located • How many Employees need to be in this Program? • The Effectiveness of Current Engineering Controls • The Contributing Factors that may Affect Employee Exposure to Silica • The Amount of Awareness Training that must be Conducted • The Potential for Compensatory Health Claims

26. Prepare a Strategy • Determine Scope for Exposure Monitoring and Medical Testing • Describe a Process Used to Address Out-of-Compliance Conditions • Develop Pre-Employment Screening Process • Develop Awareness Training Model • Develop Accurate Costs of Implementation

27. The Benefits • Increased Awareness and Prevention of Lung Disease through Early Detection • Improved Customer, Employee, and Community Relations • Management of Claims under Workers’ Compensation • Improved Compliance with State and Federal Regulations • Improved Production and Cost Efficiency of Operation

28. Where Can You Get More Informationon Preventing Silicosis? • Call 1-800-35-NIOSH. Select option 2, then option 5 for a complete package of information on silicosis prevention. • For free help in establishing or improving your safety and health program, small businesses can contact the OSHA Consultation Program in their state or contact the Small Business Administration at 1-800-REG-FAIR (734-3247) or www.sba.gov/regfair • Contact the Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beckley, West Virginia at (304) 256-3257 or them at (304) 256-3368 (fax).