Control Technology and Exposure Assessment for Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica: Stone Monument Manufacturing

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Control Technology and Exposure Assessment for Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica: Stone Monument Manufacturing – Hirons Memorial Works, Inc., Mount Orab, Ohio
• Personal Author:
  Blade, Leo M. ; Heitbrink, William A. ; Kurimo, Robert W.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Description:
  Worker exposure to crystalline silica was monitored during an abrasive blasting operation where stone monuments were being manufactured. A stencil was placed over the stone, and then abrasive blasting was used to produce the engravings by removing stone not covered by the stencil. The primary engineering control in use at this site was an exhausted enclosure with a face velocity of 160 fpm. Area and personal samples were collected during the survey to measure how much respirable silica was produced by this process. The geometric mean was 0.0071 mg/m3 in the breathing zone and 0.0026 mg/m3 for the area samples. The low concentrations appear to result from relatively effective engineering controls for the blasting operation, and, in addition, the blasting operation was performed only during part of the workday which resulted in less dust being generated. Further reductions in workers' exposures can be affected by enclosing the abrasive agent recycle chute, providing a vacuum for the worker to clean his clothing instead of using compressed air, and using a vacuum and/or wet wipe or water to remove dust from the completed monument and enclosure.
• Subjects:
  Dust Engineering Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Safety Silicon Dioxide
• Keywords:
  Abrasive-blasting Abrasives Air-sampling Breathing-zone Control-technology Engineering-controls Environmental-control-equipment Exposure-levels OSHA Region 5 Respirable-dust Silica-dusts Stone-processing Stone-products

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• Series:
  Engineering and Physical Hazards Survey Reports
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHEPHB24722
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Construction
• Name as Subject:
  Hirons Memorial Works, Inc.
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; Mount Orab (OH) ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology ; EPHB - Engineering and Physical Hazards Branch
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-10
• Contributor:
  May, Leroy ; Dolberg, Donald ; Topmiller, Jennifer L.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20022451
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2003-103824
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, EPHB 247-22, 2003 Mar ; :1-10
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3281 - Cut stone and stone products - (SIC)
• End Date:
  20010930
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:30e6baa84b7fb9f1957ddfd1d1208f3a7298768ab5270df4af77ff1e541c0d02222d2a198c71d036ffc6989d01b9b9c5d12a9eb254629328021bb14cb63d956e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/174906/cdc_174906_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 535.93 KB ]