Instant alerts warn your staff of unsafe conditions as they happen. Real-time instruments provide immediate information about exposure levels. Making assessments and adjustments to engineering controls before collecting final gravimetric samples is more efficient. Real-time, direct reading instruments provide a shorter path to compliance. Why perform real-time monitoring if gravimetric sampling is required as reference data by OSHA? By verifying the effectiveness of those adjustments before final gravimetric sampling, it is possible to avoid expensive surprises. Real-time monitoring is a faster and less costly method to adjust controls. Repeated testing and re-testing makes gravimetric sampling time consuming and expensive, especially for large organizations. If engineering controls change, the sampling process must begin again until workplace exposure is within compliance to the standard. The OSHA standard requires silica dust sampling a specific time intervals and frequencies for alternative compliance methods. The collection, processing, and lab analysis of a gravimetric sample can take weeks. Why not just do gravimetric sampling all the time? Gravimetric samples are required at the beginning of an assessment for a calibration factor and at the end to prove OSHA compliance. Collected particles then go to a lab for analysis. The pump captures larger particles while smaller particles collect on a filter. Different cyclones allow differently-sized particles to pass through. Measuring Silica with Gravimetric Sampling and Real-Time Monitoring How is gravimetric sampling done for respirable crystalline silica?Ī sample pump collect an air sample by pulling air through a cyclone. Materials like sand, concrete, brick, concrete block, stone, sheet rock, aggregate, tile, grout and mortar all contain crystalline silica as an element. There are three types of silica: quartz, cristobalite and tridymite.
Materials at risk for silica exposure include rock, concrete, brick, block and mortar.
Exposure over time can cause lung disease. Once they enter the deepest part of the lungs, they cannot be removed or expelled. Respirable silica particles are very small. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends that it be treated as hazardous in an airborne state. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) considers crystalline silica dust a carcinogen. Silica Exposure Measurement for ConstructionĬommonly asked questions about silica, silica exposure, and the OSHA Silica Standard.
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