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Clear the Air: The Dangers of Silica Dust
Silicosis is a disabling and often fatal lung
disease caused by breathing dust with very small
pieces of crystalline silica in it. Crystalline
silica can be found in concrete, masonry, sandstone
rock, paint and other abrasives. When those materials
are cut, drilled or destroyed in any fashion it
can cause the silica dust that has taken over
14,000 lives.
The silica when released into the air and then
inhaled into the lung becomes trapped. Silica
may not be visible. Repeated exposure then causes
the silica to build up in the lung, the lungs
become more and more damaged, and then it becomes
increasingly more difficult for the exposed worker
to breathe.
There are three different types of Silicosis.
Chronic Silicosis is typically diagnosed in those
who have had over ten years of exposure to crystalline
at low levels. This is the most common type. Accelerated
silicosis results from exposure to higher levels
of crystalline silica and occurs 5-10 years after
exposure. Acute silicosis is noted to occur after
weeks or months of exposure to very high levels
of crystalline silica. Death from this type of
silicosis occurs within months as the lungs drown
in their own fluids.
A worker who has been exposed to silicosis, especially
chronic silicosis may go 15-20 years before experiencing
the symptoms often associated with diagnosing
the disease. The most common symptoms are shortness
of breath, severe cough, and weakness. The lungs
can become so weakened from the build up of silica
that the immune system then becomes weakened.
As a result, those exposed are also at risk of
getting lung infections such as tuberculosis.
These other illnesses may present themselves as
fever, weight loss, night sweats, chest pain and
respiratory failure.
Many workers with silicosis are only in their
thirties, and some have been diagnosed in their
early twenties. Since 1968, more than 14,000 workers
in the United States have died from silicosis.
More than 200 workers die each year and hundreds
more are diagnosed. The type of jobs that can
potentially expose a worker to this lung disease
are construction work (highways, bridges and buildings),
abrasive blasting, masonry work, concrete or drywall
finishing, rock drilling, mining, sand and gravel
screening, and road based rock crushing.
Employers are responsible for making sure that
workers have the proper protective equipment for
reducing silica levels. These protective measures
include the use of NIOSH approved respirators.
Silicosis is not curable and the effects of exposure
are at best debilitating and all too often fatal.
Information for this article was obtained
from the CDC and NIOSH websites.
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