The Hazard
Silicosis is an incurable occupational lung disease caused by inhaling particles of respirable crystalline silica. These particles trigger inflammation and fibrosis in the lungs, leading to progressive, irreversible, and potentially disabling disease. Silica exposure is also associated with increased risk for lung infection, lung cancer, emphysema, and other illnesses. Because engineered stone (quartz), a type of mineral that contains high levels of respirable crystalline silica, workers who cut, polish, or grind stone materials can be exposed to extremely high levels of silica dust.
The Situation
In 2019, members of the Georgia Tech Safety, Health, Environmental Services (SHES) Industrial Hygiene team noticed silica exposure levels being reported were extremely high during regular exposure assessment visits among quartz countertop fabrication workers in manufacturing plants in Georgia, even when preventative controls were being used.
“Since reporting cases of silicosis is not required in the State of Georgia, there is no surveillance method or way to track the number of cases or deaths, so it was important that we try and find a way to prevent the exposure,” stated Jenny Houlroyd, manager of the Occupational Health Services team at Georgia Tech, who led the initiative to apply for OSHA funding to support this training effort through a Susan Hardwood Grant.
The latency period for silicosis with this exposure to the engineered stone is between seven and 10 years, where normally the latency for silicosis when exposed to silica would be 30 or 40 years.
In the industry now we are seeing a much more accelerated rapid progression, and the disease is very often complicated with a comorbidity of an autoimmune disorder. Workers are being diagnosed with not just silicosis, but silicosis and rheumatoid arthritis or scleroderma or a variety of other autoimmune diseases.
The Solution
Through their work during the Susan Harwood Grant funded training, Houlroyd and colleague Brandon Philpot, heard first-hand about the dangers of working with engineered stone. Personal protection equipment (PPE) is the last line of defense, and safety needs to be addressed from all angles. That’s what’s known as the hierarchy of controls: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and then we get to personal protective equipment.
This sparked an idea to organize a working group of industry stakeholders including government officials, policymakers, public health professionals, insurance providers, OSHA, NIOSH, fabrication businesses, and the community to work together to increase awareness of the issue and develop a coalition to push for meaningful change and resources for affected workers.
On October 10, 2024, the first meeting was held. Experts in the field, from OSHA, Georgia Department of Health, area Universities, and the International Surface Fabricators Associations (to name just a few), shared information with the over 130 people in attendance. In the afternoon, breakout sessions were conducted to discuss solutions and plan the next steps.
“There is still a lot of work to be done to identify cases in Georgia and put together resources to help with this surveillance effort, said Philpott.”
The Results (so far):
- A diverse group of approximately 135 participants in industry, healthcare, regulators, and academic participants including 5% workers compensation, 22% worker/employer/industry, 16% other, 9% academic, 16% public health, 7% healthcare, and 25% enforcement.
- Twenty-three people completed our post-meeting survey and overall, the feedback is positive.
- Had great participation from the national OSHA office and the North Carolina and Tennessee OSHA offices.
- Next meeting to be scheduled in January.
“Manufacturing industries and businesses are booming here in Georgia, and if we want to keep growing our economy, we need to do it in a way that keeps our workers healthy and safe, which includes implementing safety and health controls,” said Houlroyd. “If we want to be strong as a society, we need to have a strong workforce, a sustainable workforce, a workforce that can contribute to the growth of the economy. The way we do that is by creating safe jobs.”
Watch the emotional discussion with Ever, a countertop fabricator, who has silicosis in this video Stop Silicosis For Ever, the first of ten videos developed for the Susan Harwood Grant program, that can also be accessed using this link.