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The cutting, breaking, crushing, drilling, grinding, or abrasive blasting of these materials may produce fine to ultra fine airborne silica dust. Silica occurs in three forms: crystalline, microcrystalline (or cryptocrystalline) and amorphous (non-crystalline). "Free" silica is composed of pure silicon dioxide, not combined with other elements ...
Pneumoconiosis is the general term for a class of interstitial lung disease where inhalation of dust (for example, ash dust, lead particles, pollen grains etc) has caused interstitial fibrosis. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The three most common types are asbestosis , silicosis , and coal miner's lung . [ 3 ]
It is used to make items like glass, stoneware, earthenware, blocks, and manufactured stone. Respirable crystalline silica – microscopic particles of silica can be become airborne and inhaled when cutting, sawing, grinding, or drilling rock or concrete. Silica is used for foundry molds and cores, so exposure can occur when grinding on castings.
The increased drilling generates deadly silica dust and has caused severe forms of pneumoconiosis, better known as black lung disease, even among younger miners, some in their 30s and 40s.
Exposure to silica can cause Silicosis, which is a fibrosing interstitial lung disease caused by inhaling fine particles of silica, most commonly in the form of quartz or cristobalite. Short-term exposures of large amounts of silica or long-term (10 years or more) exposure of lower levels of silica can cause silicosis.
The black lung problem has only grown in recent years as miners dig through more layers of rock to get to less accessible coal, generating deadly silica dust in the process. Silica dust is 20 ...
Black lung is actually a set of conditions and until the 1950s its dangers were not well understood. Over time this disease has taken a large toll on the mining industry and the workers involved. [23] The prevailing view was that silicosis was very serious but it was solely caused by silica and not coal dust.
The silica dust produced in the sandblasting process would cause silicosis after sustained inhalation of the dust. In 1918, the first sandblasting enclosure was built, which protected the worker with a viewing screen, revolved around the workpiece, and used an exhaust fan to draw dust away from the worker's face. [20]