Silica Air Testing for OSHA

Compliance testing for contractors now may include silica air testing. Due to the new OSHA standard that began in September 2017, enforcement fees in 10’s and 100’s of thousands are getting the construction industry’s attention. This new OSHA rule represents a significant change in how contractors will interact with stone, tile, asphalt, and concrete. 

Air Testing for Silica – Requirements

Previously the Permissible Exposure Level (PEL) for respirable silica was 100 µg/m³ for an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA). The new (2017-09) OSHA Silica standard establishes an 8-hr TWA PEL of 50 µg/m³, half the old PEL, so it’s no wonder contractors are concerned and calling for silica air testing.

According to OSHA, those who inhale very small crystalline silica particles are at increased risk of harmful diseases, including:

• Silicosis, an incurable lung disease that can lead to disability and death,
• Lung cancer,
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and
• Kidney disease.

Silica Air Testing – 2017 OSHA Rule

The new standard requires employers to perform air quality testing for silica.

The OSHA Silica Testing standard requires employers to:

• Employ air quality testing to quantify concentrations of silica that workers are exposed to.
• Set an action level of 25 μg/m3 (micrograms of silica per cubic meter of air), averaged over an 8-hr day.
• Protect workers from respirable crystalline silica exposures above the permissible exposure limit of 50 μg/m3 averaged over an 8-hr day.
• Use dust controls to protect workers from silica exposures above the PEL.
• Provide respirators to workers when dust controls cannot limit exposures to the PEL.

Healthy Building Science is an environmental consulting firm providing silica air testing services for contractors in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and all of Northern California. Cities we service include San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Hayward, Sunnyvale, Fremont, Concord, Salinas, Santa Clara, Berkeley, Vallejo, Fairfield, Antioch, Richmond, Daly City, San Rafael, San Mateo, Vacaville, San Leandro, Livermore and Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Marin County, Napa County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Solano County and Sonoma County.

We would be pleased to become your go-to air quality consultant and help you with any of your air quality lab testing or air quality monitoring needs.