Comment by yeeeloit

2 years ago

Exactly, silica is not the problem. Silica is everywhere, we don't wear PPE to drive down a dirt road.

It's the silica plus the adhesive additives combined in your lungs that does the damage.

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yeeeloit

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cyberax  2 years ago

> Exactly, silica is not the problem

It is. The air-driven rock drills were called "widowmakers" by miners because of silicosis that quickly reaped its operators.

> Silica is everywhere, we don't wear PPE to drive down a dirt road.

Silica down the road is not in the form of fine dust.

maakk  2 years ago

Maybe. Or it's the dose, which sounds quite high when working with engineered stone.

  • Reason077  2 years ago

    Or the size of the particles. Cutting engineered stone has been shown to generate large quantities of extremely fine particles (< 1 µm). Cutting natural stone or driving on a dirt road, the typical particle sizes are much larger.

  • anon-sre-srm  2 years ago

    It's the bozos working with the stuff without proper PPE.

    I watched a grave marker carver absolutely bathing in dust with just a thin bandanna, I was in there for 5 minutes and was left choking in their hazardous work environment.

    WitH sufficient PPE and dust control, it's not a problem. This is just barking up the wrong tree because they can't get workers to not be idiots, so they pick a scapegoat to ban at random. It's not fucking asbestos. It's apparent but ineffective motion by expediency.

    • vintermann  2 years ago

      > they can't get workers to not be idiots

      Is it that or is it that someone doesn't want to pay for those industrial-scale air cleaners?

      I got a little interested in particulate air quality during covid so I ran across the entrepreneurs selling them. You can probably make the air in a quarry as clean as in a surgery room, if you're willing to pay.

      3 replies →

    • its-summertime  2 years ago

      I don't think seeing one person do something can really compare to having a dedicated taskforce do 2 years of research into an industry, in terms of understanding risk and what practical options there are to manage said risk.