BAC Journal > Silica – Stopping a Deadly Killer

Silica – Stopping a Deadly Killer

2013 Issue 3
Safety
JOURNAL: ISSUE 3 - 2013
Dust controls such as water, vacuums or filters are essential to protecting construction workers from exposures to silica dust above the permissible exposure limit or PEL. Above, left, is a worksite where dust controls are not in force. At right, a vacuum system is being used to reduce dust.

After years of delay, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a proposed silica standard on September 12, 2013. BAC and its allies in the Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) have long been advocating for a stronger standard to protect members and all workers in the masonry trades. As BAC members know, the current standards are out of date and too weak to adequately protect workers from an insidious danger on the job. The new proposed rule will significantly reduce exposure limits and require engineered controls on the job, which in turn will significantly reduce illnesses and deaths caused by silica exposure.

The major provisions of the proposed standard include:

  • Reducing the permissible exposure limit (PEL) in construction to 50 micrograms/unit – a reduction of roughly 80%;
  • Limit worker access to areas where they could be exposed at levels above the PEL;
  • Use dust controls (for instance water, vacuums or filters) to protect workers from exposures above the PEL;
  • Provide respirators to workers to use in conjunction with the dust controls; and
  • Offer medical exams every three years for workers exposed above the PEL for 30 or more days per year.

BAC and its affiliates are committed to seeing this rule finalized, and are working with our partners in the AFL-CIO, the BCTD and other building trades unions, and with our community partners to support OSHA's efforts on behalf of working people. Part of our effort is the filing of comments and testimony, including personal stories of silica exposure on the job.  If you have a story you would like to share, please contact your Local Union/ADC or send an email to silica@bacweb.org.

Speaking from the floor of the AFL-CIO Convention in September, BAC President James Boland, at the podium, told delegates, "Silica kills today, and silica has killed construction workers for centuries," but working together, "we can stop it, and we will stop it." Standing with Boland are members of the BAC delegation.