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by jdietrich 916 days ago
PPE is the last resort when other mitigation measures are inadequate, but positive-pressure respirators (either powered air-purifying or supplied-air) are really very comfortable. No face seal is required and you've got a constant flow of cool air. Spray painters, asbestos workers, media blasters and many welders will wear one for the majority of their working hours.

Engineered stone is undoubtedly more hazardous than natural stone, but (as the researchers quoted in this article suggest) there is no safe level of exposure to respirable crystalline silica. The problem of silicosis long pre-dates the advent of engineered stone and will remain even if the product is banned. If I were working with stone - engineered or natural - I'd want a respirator unless I was absolutely confident in the mitigation measures in place.
1 comments
fmajid 916 days ago
Didn't coal miners also use to get silicosis?
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consumer451 916 days ago
Pneumoconiosis, aka black lung is something different.

> Coal — There is a prevalent opinion that coal miners do not suffer from silicosis or tuberculosis. But coal mining may produce silicosis when the associated rock has a sufficiently high silica content [0]

> Analyses of speciments of rock drilled from various sites on Manhattan Island showed that the free silica content ranged from zero to 84 per cent. In the case of dry jackhammer drilling, 50 per cent of the silica particles were less than three to four microns in size, while with the water Leyner (wet) drill, 50 per cent of the particles were less than 1-8 microns in diameter. Of the 208 drillers, blasters and excavators examined, 42 per cent showed early, and 15 per cent well-developed silicosis. Evidence of tuberculosis, including both active and inactive cases, was present in nine per cent of the total number.

I believe miners of many types began suffering from silicosis when powered jackhammer drills were first introduced. It wasn't until people started dying that water began being piped to to the tip of the drill.

This document is old, but very interesting. Many of the questions being asked in this thread can be answered here. The various industries where silicosis can occur are outlined beginning on page 47.

[0] "SILICOSIS AND ITS PREVENTION" (1946) https://digirepo.nlm.nih.gov/ext/dw/37721440R/PDF/37721440R....

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