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When a manager makes an accounting decision to weaken work site safety, they don't care because they aren't exposed to their own decisions.
Anyone making rules for safe work sites should have to live and operate under the conditions they set for others. When the managers who make the workplace safety decisions have their own lives on the line, you can best be sure the site will be safe.
I didn't see one mention of PPE in the article. Is there no sufficient PPE for this dust?
Respirators are the last resort ,none are 100% efficient ,they all leak . The biggest problem is dry cutting and the widespread usage of power tools ,power tools create a finer dust and being piezoelectric this freshly fractured dust attracts other nasty particles making it even more dangerous ,especially in the case of engineered stone .
Any job I was ever on ,operatives would put their masks on to cut ,then take them back off ,the guys round about would still be cutting though ! Plus dust lingers in the air ,it travels, builds up and gets everywhere no matter what kind of extraction system is used ,especially in enclosed areas such as fabrication workshops .
In this modern day and age there are computerised machines that can precision cut the stuff in sealed units ,there is no need for workers to go anywhere near dust . But these machines are expensive and workers are cheap ! Until this corporate profit before employees attitude changes ,workers will continue to get sick .
Need to start misting the air?
So what you're saying is that PPE wasn't used properly? Why is the solution always to ban things rather than properly enforce existing rules?
I did not mention banning materials with a silica content over a specified percentage ,this would be impossible ,silica is in everything from concrete to natural stone, wood and even plant husks and fibers .Silica is everywhere including the air we breathe .
There are many natural stones which contain 98% silica ,you would have to ban mining, most construction and civil engineering projects such as tunneling ,foundry work ,pottery etc.etc.etc. if such a ban came into place .It would be impossible to enforce.
Neither did I say that PPE was worn incorrectly ,I said that operatives remove their masks after cutting in what is considered by regulators to be a safe working environment as LEV extraction systems are running all day . Anyway you can't eat or drink with a mask on but you are still sitting in dusty coveralls in a dust filled environment .
Obviously you have never worked in a stone yard ,fabrication workshop or construction site and silica production is not solely tied to the dusty trades ,dental technicians ,jewellers , greenhouse gardeners ,farmers and even some horse trainers are exposed to silica on a daily basis and many have succumbed to the masons cough .The list is endless
Why do you need to sit in your dusty overalls, inside the dusty fabrication shop to have your lunch? This screams "we tried nothing and we're all out of ideas"
Cost. It's cheaper to just say no than to try and implement effective change.