Causes of Silica Dust Exposure

What Causes Silica Dust Exposure?

In its natural state silica is not harmful to people; it is only when it is cut, drilled, ground or polished that the tiny fibres it is made up from can be released into the air, and once airborne they are so small that they can easily be inhaled. At this stage the particles are called Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) and are now treated as a carcinogen: a substance that causes cancer.

The particles that make up RCS are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye; special lighting systems can display the particles, but these lightning systems are only generally used by specialists within the industry, and they are often only brought in in cases where problems have already arisen.

One of the difficulties facing UK workers is that the control techniques used to reduce the amount of silica dust that can escape in to the air can be costly, and so many employers are sceptical about the amount of money that might have to be spent to reduce the risk to workers. From a short-term point of view one can see their reasoning, but if you take into account the amount it might cost when workers become ill as a result of inhaling the dust, the cost of reducing the risk would have been far better value.

Silica dust has been an occupational hazard for many years, but recently as the use of power tools, particularly hand-held power tools has increased, so the amount of RCS produced when cutting, grinding, polishing has increased. 

Silica dust can be released in any situation where the earth’s crust is disturbed; soil, sand, stone and even gravel can release silica dust when moved or disturbed in any way. One of the problems is that silica, while commonly made up from quartz, has traces of other elements within it, such as iron, which themselves can cause issues when inhaled.

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