MSDSonline Environmental, Health & Safety Blog

If you haven’t noticed, OSHA has been following through on its commitment to do more to update, create and modify guidance provisions, at least in the way of providing new guidance documentation.  The agency has released two new guidance publications in recent months, both happen to address dust-particle dangers. The latest document, Controlling Silica Exposures in Construction, provides recommendations for preventing worker overexposure to crystalline silica. It includes effective work practices and engineering controls for construction-related tasks, such as utilizing wet-cutting and vacuum-dust collection systems.

Unlike the combustibility hazards associated with the dust particles referenced in the other guidance document, Hazard Communication Guidance for Combustible Dusts, the hazards associated with silica airborne particles involve the respiratory function of exposed workers.

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH),  exposure to respirable crystalline silica is a risk for a whopping 1.7 million U.S. workers. This is a considerable number and is territory that OSHA has been carefully assessing.

OSHA and Silica
In addition to putting a guidance document together, OSHA also initiated a National Emphasis Program (NEP) for crystalline silica in early 2008, Directive CPL 03-00-007, which builds on a 1996 Special Emphasis Program (SEP) for Silicosis. According to OSHA, the purpose of the NEP is “to identify and reduce or eliminate the health hazards associated with occupational exposure to crystalline silica.”

Regarding compliance, if your company uses materials containing 0.1 percent or more crystalline silica, then you are covered by OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (HCS, HazCom, 29 CFR 1910) and must provide: material safety data sheets, proper warning labels and employee training.

You must also adhere to the permissible exposure limit (PEL), 29 CFR 1926.55, 1910.1000, that OSHA has set for this hazardous compound. The PEL represents the maximum amount of crystalline silica that employees can be exposed to during an eight-hour work shift.  The limit varies by the composition of the airborne dust present at a particular construction site, and the dust composition is affected by the type of material in use, the silica concentration found in that material, and the environmental factors impacting the worksite ( i.e., open or enclosed space, wind or no wind, etc).

If you’d like more details about OSHA’s PEL calculation for crystalline silica, visit the agency’s Silica eTool, or for a snapshot of regulatory standards related to the hazardous dust, click here.

NOTE: According to the new guidance document, OSHA is still in the process of reviewing silica PELs for both the construction and general industries. However, in this publication, the agency references a PEL benchmark of 0.1mg/m3 (milligrams per cubic meter of air) per eight-hour time-weighted average (TWA).

Science-class Summary of Silica
We thought it would be beneficial to provide a quick and easy-to-understand scientific summary of what silica is, so here it goes. Silica is a naturally-occurring mineral compound made of oxygen and silicon; the two most abundant elements on earth (oxygen being the most abundant, and silicon being the second).

You’re probably familiar with the most common type of silica, quartz. Two other major types of silica are cristobalite and tridymite. Quartz happens to be the second most prominent naturally-occurring mineral found on earth, existing in all major rock types and top soils, including granite and sandstone.  Some types of quartz you might be familiar with include: amethyst, onyx, Tiger’s eye, rose quartz and citrine.

You’ll find silica in two forms: amorphous (or non-crystalline) and crystal (also referred to as crystalline). It’s the crystalline form that presents the most potential health risk to workers.

This hazardous compound goes by a slew of names, including:  crystalline silica, free silica, free crystalline silica, respirable crystalline silica (RCS), crystalline silica dust, quartz dust and respirable quartz.

Where Crystalline Silica Hazards Exist
Some examples of workers with high potential risk for crystalline silica exposure are those involved in: stone cutting, foundry work, sand blasting, concrete mixing, rock drilling, tunneling, jack hammering, glass production, highway repair and mining.

Check out OSHA’s table “Probable Use of Silica” for more examples.

The Dangers of Crystalline Silica
Continuous inhalation of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) can cause a variety of pulmonary diseases. The most common one associated with occupational overexposure is silicosis. Silicosis is a non-reversible, yet preventable, lung disease caused by the accumulation of silica dust particles inside the lungs. These particles build up, irritate, inflame and scar lung tissue, ultimately reducing the body’s ability to extract oxygen.

It is very important to protect employees now, because even after exposure has ceased, the disease progresses. These particles are so dangerous that crystalline silica has been categorized as a known carcinogen.

Quick Links for More Info
Continue to remind your employees about the importance of protecting themselves from inhaling this potentially deadly dust. Below are links to additional information and resources you can use to help control silica dust exposure at your worlplace, including training PowerPoints.

• World Health Organization
• OSHA Library of Crystalline Silica Training Materials and Other Information

You can also contact MSDSonline at 1.888.362.2007 for information about on-demand Respiratory Protection training.

- The MSDSonline Compliance Team

Back in August of this year, Dave Schmidt, an economist in OSHA’s Office of Statistical Analysis, released details about OSHA’s $1 million, one year National Emphasis Program (NEP) for injury and illness recordkeeping at a National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) meeting, and on Oct. 1, OSHA officially announced  that it was initiating this NEP.

The purpose of the NEP will be to protect workers by investigating certain employers for possibly under-recording workplace injuries and illnesses. The NEP will focus on industries with high injury and illness rates.

“Accurate and honest recordkeeping is vitally important to workers’ health and safety,” said acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. “This information is not only used by OSHA to determine which workplaces to inspect, but it is an important tool employers and workers can use to identify health and safety problems in their workplaces.”

The inspections will consist of three components: a records review, employee interviews and a limited safety and health inspection of the workplace.

1. Records review

• Of ALL available records for each employee sampled (medical records, Workers’ Comp, absentee records, audiograms, etc.)
• Of the OSHA 300 Log, 300A Summary and 301 Incident Report (or the equivalent) to verify accuracy

2. Interviews

• With the recordkeeper, management, employees and health care providers
• To find out about current incident recordkeeping processes
• To determine whether incentive and disincentive programs might be set up in such a way that deters reporting

3. Limited safety and health inspection of the workplace

• To determine if recorded incidences correlate with actual work environments
• Will simultaneously address any observable safety violations

OSHA stated that this NEP will help the agency work with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which have both cited concerns about the accuracy of recorded workplace injury and illness estimates.

Incident Management Assistance
Don’t be taken by surprise, prepare now for a possible inspection. With the help of MSDSonline’s Incident Management application, you’ll have one convenient location to record, store and access employee incident information.

It’s easy to get started; the 4-Step Case Guide takes you through a step-by-step process for entering new cases into the system. Once the cases are entered, you can use the analytics tools to identify workplace hazards and ― through the application ― begin scheduling corrective actions to eliminate them.

Call 1.888.362.2007 for more information or send  an inquiry via email.

The Department of Labor (DOL) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently revised the personal protective equipment (PPE) standards concerning requirements for eye- and face protective devices, and head and foot protection for general industry, shipyard employment, longshoring and marine terminals. The final rule, which becomes effective Oct. 9, 2009, “Is another step in OSHA’s efforts to update or remove references to outdated national consensus and industry standards,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab.

According to the Federal Register notice, one of the changes includes “deleting editions of the national consensus standards that PPE must meet if purchased before a specified date.” The revisions to the standard require employers to follow guidelines from the most recent editions of applicable national consensus standards, standards set by groups like the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The changes give the regulation sustainability, keeping it current as consensus standards evolve through time, and they also simplify compliance and enforcement.

“Workers exposed to occupational hazards requiring head, foot, or eye and face protection will now be provided protection based on a standard that reflects state-of-the-art technology and materials,” said Barab.

So, what does this mean for you if you’re the employer? Well, in an interview with EHS Today, from the article titled “OSHA Updates PPE Standards to Reference Consensus Standards,” the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) President Daniel K. Shipp summed it up nicely, he said, “It’s no great change. Companies will continue to use the same eye and face protection and head protection equipment they had been using that meets the current standard.” Shipp also concurred that the proposed changes will help to keep the regulation relevant in the future. He said, “We think the way that OSHA is proposing to update the standard will make it easier for the standard to stay up to date now with the state-of-the-art [advances] as new consensus standards are published.”

Visit OSHA’s Web site to read the complete new release or click here to read the final rule in the Federal Register.

If you’re considering purchasing new PPE, you can find a variety of products from trusted suppliers at MSDSonline’s Safety Mall.

– The MSDSonline Compliance Team

President Barack Obama recently announced his intention to nominate David Michaels, PhD, MPH, as assistant secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).  A permanent administrator hasn’t been in place since the resignation of Edwin Foulke Jr. in November 2008.   View the OSHA org. chart.

Michaels is an epidemiologist and research professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.  According to a White House statement, “He has conducted numerous studies of the health effects of occupational exposure to toxic chemicals, including asbestos, metals and solvents, and has written extensively on science and regulatory policy.”

Continue reading ‘Obama Announces Intention to Nominate Dr. David Michaels to Oversee OSHA’

Do you have employees that primarily work outdoors?   Is so, know this…outdoor workers are at particular risk of developing skin cancer due to prolonged, often, year-round exposure to ultraviolet rays.  According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, outdoor workers experience twice the amount of nonmelanoma skin cancers (basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas ) as indoor workers.

The Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America recognizes this danger and has been building awareness about these dangers to its members for years through sun-safety awareness posters and anecdotal and informational newsletter articles like this one:  “Skin Cancer and Construction Laborers: Something New Under the Sun”.

Those Harmful Rays
The sun emits two types of UV light that we need to be concerned with when it comes to skin protection: UVA and UVB.

Continue reading ‘Outdoor Workers are Twice as Likely to Develop Skin Cancer’