Feds issue alert on silica exposure during countertop manufacture and installation

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health issued a hazard alert about protecting workers from significant crystalline silica exposure during manufacturing, finishing, and installing natural and manufactured stone countertops.

The alert follows reports of 46 workers in Spain and 25 workers in Israel who developed silicosis—an incurable, progressively disabling, and sometimes fatal lung disease—as a result of exposure to crystalline silica in their work manufacturing stone countertops. For more information on silica hazards and how to prevent them, visit OSHA’s Web page on crystalline silica. 

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