The Future of Respirable Silica Monitoring – Accurate Results Generated On-Site in a Few Minutes

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cauda, Emanuele G. ; Chubb L
• Description:
  Silica dust is common in many mining environments and there is usually a chance for that dust to become airborne. In aggregates operations, dust may be generated while drilling, blasting, mucking, hauling, crushing, screening, and transferring materials within the plant and to stockpiles. Dust may also be present at customer loadout points and inside quality control labs. A well-vetted monitoring approach is essential to evaluating worker exposure and assessing the effectiveness of control technologies. NIOSH researchers are developing an innovative silica monitoring approach that would generate silica concentration data right on site, immediately after collecting a respirable dust sample. The new approach uses a small, robust, portable infrared analyzer. Several comparable instruments are commercially available, and we're testing them in the lab and in the field to ensure they have the necessary technical and practical features. Feedback from occupational professionals in the mining industry - the intended users for the final technique - will be essential to ensuring that this novel monitoring approach provides accurate, accessible information that will ultimately better protect miners from exposure to respirable silica dust. Beta testing of the overall monitoring approach is scheduled in the next few months, and we look forward to sharing the results. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Dust Environmental Exposure Mining Occupational Health Safety Silicon Dioxide Workplace
• Keywords:
  Aggregates Airborne Dusts Analytical Instruments Dust Analysis Dust Collection Dust Collectors Dust Exposure Dust Measurement Dust Samplers Dust Sampling Equipment Testing Exposure Assessment Exposure Levels Infrared Radiation Mining-industry Monitoring Systems Monitors Performance Tests Respirable Dust Silica Dusts Work Environment Work Operations

  More +
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  8750-9210
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PMRD - Pittsburgh Mining Research Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  22-25
• Volume:
  33
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051785
• Citation:
  Stone, Sand Gravel Rev 2017 Sep-Oct; 33(5):22-25
• Contact Point Address:
  Emanuele Cauda, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Email:
  ecauda@cdc.gov
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7) ; Silica (CAS RN 7631-86-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Stone, Sand & Gravel Review
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:eafadadad9edb0e2f4a94442d3c6d8d632829493a69405d17a5a43c2449f01913aa64602458013b4fc84d45c94f24469728c5c7c97549b38d6e0cd99f6e1354b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227684/cdc_227684_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.57 MB ]