Silicosis Among Workers Involved in Abrasive Blasting – Cleveland, Ohio, 1995

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Gromen, Keith ; Migliozzi, Adeline A.
• Description:
  The results of a medical screening, conducted by NIOSH in 1995 at the request of the Ohio Department of Health, of Cleveland area workers involved in or around abrasive blasting activities were presented. Respirators were reported to have been supplied to all but one of the 122 currently employed workers; however, 92% reported that use of the respirators was not required. Sixty six percent of these workers had been informed by their employer regarding health hazards associated with sand or silica (7631869) dust. Air supplied hoods with tight fitting face pieces were used by 32% of the workers directly performing blasting; only two of these workers had been fit tested for this respirator. Replaceable cartridge air purifying respirators were used by 79% of the workers and 18% used a dust mask. The most commonly used abrasive was silica sand. Chest radiographs consistent with pneumoconiosis were identified in 7% of the 113 workers who had ever blasted or worked as blasting helpers; all of these were classified as major profusion category one or greater. All of the workers with pneumoconiosis had performed blasting; only one worker was aware of the condition. An editorial response to this report was presented stressing a lack of knowledge concerning potential exposures to silica dust and good workplace practices among workers engaged in high risk occupations such as sand blasting. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety Silicon Dioxide
• Keywords:
  Air-purifying-respirators Medical-screening NIOSH-Author Occupational-exposure Personal-protective-equipment Respiratory-protection Sand-blasters Sand-blasting Silica-dusts
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  5 pdf pages
• Volume:
  46
• Issue:
  32
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00239178
• Citation:
  MMWR 1997 Aug; 46(32):744-747
• CAS Registry Number:
  Silica (CAS RN 7631-86-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c9fa0e975ef8e82f638c770c0df8eb073ca31a2496439af61e98bf747409624606bff0ffed41542dddb9c0108346abdaaa5c3da09c17733c7857311bbde798b4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/183293/cdc_183293_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 100.77 KB ]