Have You Heard About the New OSHA Silica Standard? How Is Your Contractor Protecting You?

Sil­i­ca Safety

What is Sil­i­ca, and is Your Facil­i­ty at Risk?

Sil­i­ca dust is a micro­scop­ic, air­borne min­er­al, and is the byprod­uct of grind­ing, cut­ting, or drilling a vari­ety of mate­ri­als you would find on a typ­i­cal con­struc­tion site. Mason­ry, con­crete, and rock, to name just a few.

Why is it so dan­ger­ous, even being called the ​“new asbestos”?

Unlike com­mon nui­sance dust that can be fil­tered out by some­thing as sim­ple as a dust mask, sil­i­ca is an unseen dan­ger. And, once it comes into con­tact with your lungs, it can cause a host of seri­ous and irre­versible health prob­lems, including:

• Can­cer
• Sil­i­co­sis (scar­ring of the lungs, cre­at­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry issues)
• Pro­gres­sive Mas­sive Fibro­sis (actu­al pet­ri­fi­ca­tion of the lung tissue)
• Tuber­cu­lo­sis
• Kid­ney disease
• …and more

Here’s What You Need to Know About the OSHA Sil­i­ca Standard

Because of the increas­ing aware­ness of these mas­sive health risks (and the cas­es of sub­se­quent fatal­i­ties every year), OSHA (Occu­pa­tion­al Safe­ty and Health Admin­is­tra­tion) stepped in and cre­at­ed new stan­dards to pro­tect the work­force. One set of stan­dards is for those in the con­struc­tion indus­try, and the oth­er for those in ​“Gen­er­al Indus­try” and ​“Mar­itime.”

Both sets took effect on June 23, 2016, and those in the con­struc­tion indus­try had exact­ly one year to be in compliance.

There are a num­ber of key pro­vi­sions out­lined in OSHA’s stan­dards (you can review them all here). In short, the pur­pose is to reduce expo­sure to sil­i­ca on the job­site, and engi­neer con­trols that pro­tect, inform, and eval­u­ate the med­ical con­di­tion of at-risk workers.

What Safe­ty Stan­dards and Con­trols Should Your Indus­tri­al Floor­ing Con­trac­tor Implement?

For those in the com­mer­cial and indus­tri­al paint­ing and floor­ing indus­try, sil­i­ca expo­sure is a real risk. Indus­tri­al floor­ing ser­vices in par­tic­u­lar often involve cut­ting, grind­ing, and even demol­ish­ing mate­ri­als that release sil­i­ca when disturbed.

Adher­ence to the new OSHA stan­dard should be one of your contractor’s top pri­or­i­ties, both for their team’s well being and yours. An empha­sis on main­tain­ing prop­er work hygiene and invest­ing in proac­tive mea­sures must be evi­dent in their work and com­mu­ni­ca­tion, min­i­miz­ing and pre­vent­ing risks before they have the chance to develop.

Does your con­trac­tor meet this criteria?

• Com­pletes med­ical eval­u­a­tions of their crew to ensure that they are capa­ble of wear­ing a res­pi­ra­tor. Res­pi­ra­tor fit tests are also con­duct­ed to con­firm that a prop­er seal is in place.
• Res­pi­ra­tors should progress from half-mask to full-mask with a pos­i­tive air­flow for the most protection.
• Are vac­u­ums with mul­ti-stage fil­tra­tion sys­tems being used? Remem­ber, pre-fil­ter removes larg­er debris, mid-fil­ter removes fine par­ti­cles, and HEPA fil­ters remove ultra-fine par­ti­cles. All of our indus­tri­al floor­ing vac­u­ums are equipped with the HEPA fil­tra­tion attachment.
• Writ­ten expo­sure con­trol plans should be pro­vid­ed, artic­u­lat­ing the sys­tems that are put in place to pro­tect the envi­ron­ment for the sake of every­one involved.
• A focus on ongo­ing edu­ca­tion, train­ing, and prepa­ra­tion is essen­tial. Safe­ty is a team sport, and your con­trac­tor should pro­vide not only cut­ting-edge equip­ment, but also the knowl­edge need­ed to pro­tect you and each other.

Can Your Con­trac­tor Knowl­edge­ably Explain the OSHA Sil­i­ca Stan­dard, and How They’re Pro­tect­ing Those In Your Facility?

The OSHA Sil­i­ca Stan­dard is absolute­ly nec­es­sary; main­tain­ing a safe work­site is a moral (and legal) obligation.

Should you have any fur­ther ques­tions, we encour­age you to reach out to us at Kaloutas. It would be our plea­sure to dis­cuss your project goals (and con­cerns) here in New England.

Oth­er Ser­vices Kaloutas Cus­tomers Are Search­ing for Include:

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Kaloutas is New Eng­land’s pre­mier con­trac­tor for com­mer­cial & indus­tri­al paint­ing, floor­ing, and relat­ed ser­vices. Estab­lished in 1987, Kaloutas has become a trust­ed resource for gen­er­al con­trac­tors, facil­i­ties man­agers, and build­ing own­ers from Con­necti­cut to Maine. Our team prides itself on high qual­i­ty work­man­ship, jobs done on time & bud­get, and tack­ling com­plex projects that oth­er con­trac­tors don’t have the expe­ri­ence or resources to han­dle. Con­tact us today for a paint­ing or floor­ing esti­mate, or give us a call at 978−532−1414 to learn more.