The Source of Hazard
How significant the health hazard is to people working on a granite countertop depends on the nature of the job, the proximity of the workplace to the threat, and the effectiveness of protective measures. Silica is commonly found in abundance in most of the earth’s rocks and can break down in the air after the rock breaks down. Dust exposure can also lead to lung cancer, stomach cancer, and kidney failure. It can also lead to other lung conditions, such as tuberculosis and emphysema. If rock breaks up or breaks down, such as milling or shearing, which generates dust, there may be a danger of inhalation of silica.
Bricklayers work most of their work with stone, which includes silica. Workers’ field of activity comprises grinding, chiseling, and cutting, exposing the gummer to the danger of inhaling dust. Silica can cause silicosis, typical pneumoconiosis that develops gradually after several years of exposure with a sufficiently intense effect on the body. With shallow exposure to the body, an acute or transient form of silicosis can develop within a few months and leads to severe damage or death after a few years (Leso et al., 2019). Exposure to silica is also associated with an increased risk of tuberculosis, lung cancer, and certain autoimmune diseases. It turns out that fresh, recently crushed silica dust is more aggressive and more hazardous to health than old or caked ones.
Finished and polished products from natural and artificial stone are entirely safe for human health. Nevertheless, “cutting, grinding, chipping, sanding, drilling, and polishing natural and artificial stone products can release dangerous levels of excellent crystalline silica dust particles into the air breathed by workers” (Worker exposure to silica during countertop manufacturing, finishing, and installation, 2015, p.2). Crystalline silica that people breathe in a while working can be deadly. Thus, there is a standard threshold limit value (TLV) of silica in the workplace to protect workers’ health. The TLV is understood as the maximum concentration that is safe for a person for a certain period at work.
Exposure to silica dust is damaging to human health and has tangible consequences. Due to silica dust, there are breathing and lung problems among workers every year. Such issues can be caused or aggravated by the labor activity of bricklayers. Measuring dust, including silicon dioxide, is a crucial safety control method. The amount of silica present in various silica-containing materials varies considerably. However, even if the substance is low in silica, exposure to large amounts of dust can cause serious health consequences. Exposure to particulate silica is a major cause of lung problems, with several hundred deaths each year. Therefore, to effectively manage risks during work, an accurate understanding of the effects of dust on the body is essential.
Awareness of the Hazard
Since employers are obliged to report the hazard when working with life-threatening elements, workers are aware of the harmful effects of silica dust. As a rule, management is committed to ensuring that employee activities are performed safely that do not pose a hazard to employees and others, including the public and site visitors. Moreover, management should conduct a workplace risk assessment and select and maintain appropriate safety measures. Additionally, employees must be appropriately and adequately trained to carry out their duties. Employees are also aware of the dangers of employers providing employees with information about their health and safety risks. In this way, workers are always aware of the risks and hazards they might be exposed to when processing worktops.
Workers are also aware of the hazard as workplaces are committed to complying with health and safety laws. For this, the relevant documents are signed, and inspections are carried out, in which, if danger is identified, a fine is imposed on the employer. These laws may vary slightly from state to state, but the responsibilities for employee health and safety are similar across the country.
In addition to the above, employers must ensure the health and safety of each employee and others and calculate and control the possibility of any risks. However, safety concerns are also the responsibility of the employee. They are informed of any risks in advance, so they must take reasonable care of their health and safety from the start. Moreover, workers must protect themselves and others when working with countertops. To do this, they must follow the workplace safety policy and any advice given by their superiors. Employers must eliminate or reduce exposure to hazards by following a risk management process to comply with health and safety laws. If proper control measures are not taken, anyone who works with silica dust has an increased risk of developing lung cancer. Workers should always be involved in the process and monitor their safety.
Protection
While all employers are committed to providing a safe work environment, not all people are protected. Thus, a “combination of engineering controls, work practices, protective equipment, worker training, and other measures is needed to protect workers from overexposure to silica during stone countertop manufacturing, finishing and installation” (Worker exposure to silica during countertop manufacturing, finishing, and installation, 2015, p.3). In many cases, the concentration of silica dust is not so high, but in some cases, workers wear respiratory protection when working with countertops (Kamkuimo et al., 2020). Since many organizations still use dry working methods such as dry cutting, grinding, and polishing, workers breathe in more dust than in alternative ways of working.
To carry out work on the processing of tabletops, it is necessary to have at the enterprise the machines and power tools intended for this, as well as experienced and highly qualified specialists. When working with countertops, workers need special attention, accuracy, and strict adherence to processing technology (Tavakol et al., 2017). Since the stones have different silica content, the effect of silica dust can also be different. As a result of the experiment, OSHA tested the air for dust in several workshops. In a marble workshop, two dry grinding finishers for very low silica green marble “(1.8% quartz) were exposed to air-silica content of 39 and 45 μg / m3” (Worker exposure to silica during countertop manufacturing, finishing, and installation, 2015). Thus, at a low silica content, protection does not seem relevant to workers. However, this is an erroneous conclusion, which leads to serious health consequences in the future.
Therefore, protecting workers when handling and harvesting countertops is a critical responsibility that an employer must provide. All working conditions and hazard warnings are spelled out in employment contracts and must be strictly adhered to. If safety measures are violated, workers acquire serious consequences that affect their health, and in some cases, it can be fatal. It follows from this that workers must unswervingly observe safety measures when working with countertops to protect life and health from the influence of silica dust.
References
Kamkuimo S.A.K., Girard B., Lapointe P., Menelas BA.J. (2020). Design and implementation of a serious game to make construction workers aware of exposure to silica dust in the workplace. (Ma M., Fletcher B., Göbel S., Baalsrud Hauge J., Marsh T. Eds.). Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 12434, 85-98.
Leso, V., Fontana, L., Romano, R., Gervetti, P., & Iavicoli, I. (2019). Artificial stone associated silicosis: A systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(4), 568.
Tavakol, E., Azari, M., Zendehdel, R., Salehpour, S., Khodarhim, S., Nikoo, S. & Saranjam, B. (2017). Risk evaluation of construction workers’ exposure to silica dust and the possible lung function impairments. Tanaffos, 16(4), 295-303.
Worker exposure to silica during countertop manufacturing, finishing and installation. (2015). Hazart Alert.