Respiratory Protection
As you know by now, cutting, drilling, and grinding without using engineering controls can cause exposure to respirable silica to reach much higher than the OSHA PEL.
Deadly Dust
The level of respiratory protection needed depends on the employee's silica exposure, which varies due to:
- factors in the work environment (such as enclosed, semi-enclosed, or open spaces and/or multiple operations generating silica dust),
- environmental conditions (such as wind direction and speed), and
- the percentage of silica found in the material.
The good news is respiratory protection should not be necessary when using effective wet methods. In situations where wet methods may not be appropriate or feasible, vacuum dust collection may be an alternative control option.
However, vacuum dust collection alone does not reduce exposure sufficiently. Therefore, to supplement this control option, employees need to wear a properly fitted, NIOSH-approved half-facepiece or disposable respirator equipped with an N-, R-, or P-95 filter. A half-facepiece or disposable respirator can be used for exposures up to 1.0 mg/m3.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
6-1. To supplement the vacuum dust collection control option, employees need to wear a properly fitted, NIOSH-approved _____.
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