M10.8 Blog about an occupationally-related disease

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The occupationally-related disease that I chose to look into is Silicosis. My husband is a geologist and works a lot with silica dust. The US Geological survey takes many different precautions when it comes with working with the material, but I wanted to take a look to see what the specific regulations would be regarding exposure to it. When I looked up OSHA regulations, it said "To protect workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica, OSHA has issued two respirable crystalline silica standards: one for construction, and the other for general industry and maritime". My husband is not in construction, but I wanted to see what both of the regulations did. 

 1) Construction: 
  • Establish and implement a written exposure control plan that identifies tasks that involve exposure and methods used to protect workers, including procedures to restrict access to work areas where high exposures may occur.
  • Designate a competent person to implement the written exposure control plan.
  • Restrict housekeeping practices that expose workers to silica where feasible alternatives are available.
  • Offer medical exams-including chest X-rays and lung function tests-every three years for workers who are required by the standard to wear a respirator for 30 or more days per year.
  • Train workers on work operations that result in silica exposure and ways to limit exposure.
  • Keep records of exposure measurements, objective data, and medical exams.
2) General Industry and Maritime: 
  • Assess employee exposures to silica if it may be at or above an action level of 25 µg/m3 (micrograms of silica per cubic meter of air), averaged over an 8-hour day;
  • Protect workers from respirable crystalline silica exposures above the permissible exposure limit (PEL) of 50 µg/m3, averaged over an 8-hour day;
  • Limit workers' access to areas where they could be exposed above the PEL;
  • Use dust controls to protect workers from silica exposures above the PEL;
  • Provide respirators to workers when dust controls cannot limit exposures to the PEL;
  • Use housekeeping methods that do not create airborne dust, if feasible;
  • Establish and implement a written exposure control plan that identifies tasks that involve exposure and methods used to protect workers;
  • Offer medical exams - including chest X-rays and lung function tests - every three years for workers exposed at or above the action level for 30 or more days per year;
  • Train workers on work operations that result in silica exposure and ways to limit exposure; and
  • Keep records of exposure measurements, objective data, and medical exams.
  To my knowledge, the USGS follows these regulations because I know my husband always talks about the various precautions that he has to take when it comes to working with Silica dust. 

Comments

  1. Daisy AlbarranNovember 1, 2018 at 3:45 PM

    Hi Kera,

    First, I want to say that's very cool about your husband being a geologist! It would be interesting to see how the regulations have developed over the years. I'm curious to see whether there has been some updates on their policy since the agency's inception. I saw that chest x-rays and lung function tests are every three years - I think it should be done more often given that if someone works with silica dust 90% of the year, their lungs would be very different compared to someone who only works 10% of the year.

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  2. UnknownNovember 7, 2018 at 11:11 AM

    Hi Kera,
    That is so cool that your husband is a geologist. So important to learn from the various matters of our planet and I remember how fascinated I was when I took geology. I am sure he shares great stories with you about his work! However, not so great that he is exposed to silica dust, though I am glad to hear that his workplace takes precautions to address the exposures. And thank you for providing detailed information about current regulations. Great post!

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