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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 ...
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula SiO 2, commonly found in nature as quartz. [5] [6] In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundant families of materials, existing as a compound of several minerals and as a
Clinical and toxicological research conducted on volcanic crystalline silica has found little to no evidence of its ability to cause silicosis/pneumoconiosis-like diseases and geochemical analyses have shown that there are inherent factors in the crystalline structure which may render volcanic crystalline silica much less pathogenic than some ...
Researchers estimated that 100,000 workers in the U.S. are potentially at risk of silicosis due to exposure to silica dust. There is no cure for silicosis, and it can be deadly.
Federal inspectors in February found workers at the company laboring in a haze of dust and using required respirators improperly, with few controls to reduce silica exposure as they cut stone ...
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.
As quartz is a form of silica, it is a possible cause for concern in various workplaces. Cutting, grinding, chipping, sanding, drilling, and polishing natural and manufactured stone products can release hazardous levels of very small, crystalline silica dust particles into the air that workers breathe. [64]
During various mining processes in which rock/minerals are broken up and collected for processing, mineral dusts are created and become airborne. Inhalation of these dusts can lead to various respiratory illnesses, depending on the dust type (e.g. coal, silica, etc.), size of the dust particulates, and exposure duration. [4]