Breaking down all types and sizes of rocks in quarrying, through crushing and screening processes generate high levels of respirable dust. When the rocks are crushed and then screened, large volumes of both visible and invisible dust becomes airborne and travels across the entire quarry site, presenting a risk for all workers.
As in mining, quarrying also involves a large amount of drilling, blasting and other methods to break down rocks and spaces for processing and extracting. These processes lead to rocks, clay and other natural materials becoming very small and making them airborne and easily inhaled, leading to severe health risks for workers.
Once all materials have been extracted and processed, they’re stored in designated areas after collection. Here, natural materials are stored in stockpiles, where they grind against other materials and minerals, creating more and more respirable dust. When these minerals are used, the settled dust becomes disturbed and airborne.
Maintenance of all types of machinery, vehicles and minerals, such as rock and sand in quarrying can generate respirable dust. If dust from screening, drilling and even in stockpiles isn’t correctly maintained it becomes dormant. Poor maintenance and handling processes like dry sweeping can spread dust, presenting health issues.
Heavy-duty vehicles used in quarrying such as haul trucks and conveyors often involve moving large volumes of natural minerals which have been processed and are fine and small in size. This can present risk of airborne dust across all areas of the site, as well as other dust which may be trapped in wheels and cabs of the vehicle.
Smaller, non-power tools such as chisels can generate high levels of respirable dust, such as silica, in stone works. A vital job for creating features and designs within stone, this process requires chipping and breaking down part of the stone into fine dust as a byproduct, which becomes airborne and poses significant risk to workers.
CNC machines use a computerised operation to cut and shape large slabs of marble and other materials in stone works, often generating dust as a byproduct. Without proper dust control measures, such as water to damp down the dust or dust extraction units added on the machine, it can become airborne and easily inhalable.
Dust can be generated from handheld drills, grinders and other power tools used in stone works. The high intensity from the automation of these tools means stones are ground and broken down faster, leading to higher levels of airborne dust, especially in and around the breathing zone of those using the power tools.
It’s not just on CNC machinery where water-controlled processes are essential to limiting dust control. Any large machinery jobs involving polishing, cutting and finishing generates high levels of respirable dust which, and without effective water-control to dampen the dust making it heavier, dust subsequently becomes airborne.
As there are various different ways respirable dust can be generated in stone work industries, it’s essential that maintenance is as effective in relation to the workplace you’re in to prevent further dust generation. Dry sweeping, lack of dust extraction and general ignorance of the issue can lead to dormant dust not being dealt with properly.
Arguably the most well-known and common risk associated with exposure to hazardous dusts in the workplace relate to occupational lung diseases. Diseases such as Silicosis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Black Lung Disease and occupational lung cancer all are associated with dust inhalation in the workplace.
Whilst long-term exposure to breathing in dust can lead to lung diseases, initial, short-term exposure to hazardous dusts can lead to respiratory illness and irritation. Breathing in dust such as Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) and wood dust can cause serious respiratory diseases; the NHS claim it’s the third biggest cause of death in England.
Exposure to breathing in hazardous dust can lead to cardiovascular diseases and other heart and blood vessel issues. Dust and hazardous particulates can easily travel through your bloodstream and deep into your lungs, damaging your blood vessels in the process. This can increase blood pressure and make it more likely to give you blood clots.
The British Thoracic Society reports that occupational asthma is responsible for roughly 1/6 cases of adult-onset asthma. Occupational asthma can be caused by various types of dust in multiple different industries, such as flour dust, wood dust, grain dust and various fumes from metals.
There have been examples of various other health concerns relating to workplace exposure to hazardous dust. Skin, eye and nose irritation, as well as some rare examples of kidney disease have all been linked to examples where workers have failed to protect themselves against hazardous dust.
This news comes after cases of silicosis linked to engineered stone exposure recently came to light globally. Workers who have been exposed to engineered stone quartz and dust are now being affected by and diagnosed with severe lung problems, linked to inhaling such dust. Earlier in the year, it had prompted the Australian government to act and ban the use, manufacturing, and production of engineered stone across the entire country.
Now the UK is being urged to do the same, with the first cases of occupational silicosis related to engineered stone production have now been reported in the country. Various medical staff who have treated workers diagnosed with these cases of silicosis are calling for similar action to be taken in the UK as in Australia.
According to British newspaper i the first 8 cases of silicosis linked to engineered stone use have been confirmed, all of which are men. The average age of the 8 men is 34, with the youngest to be diagnosed just 27 years old. Of the 8 cases, 1 man has died, and 2 others have been referred for lung transplant assessments.
The article from i features an interview with one of the diagnosed workers, Malik al-Khalil, a stonemason who is just 31. After working with engineered stone for 5 years, Malik was diagnosis with silicosis, contracted after cutting engineered stone slabs in a small London workshop. Malik said, “I want to let all the people working in this work know what’s happening from this material” and believes the only solution to this growing problem is a nationwide ban of the product; “Of course [it should be banned] because the silicosis is coming from this material.”
It’s not just Malik and fellow diagnoses patients who are calling for engineered stone to be banned in the UK. Dr Johanna Feary, a respiratory consultant from the Royal Brompton Hospital where Malik al-Khalil is being treated, and lead author for ‘Thorax’, has also highlighted her concerns over exposed to the product. Dr Feary told i “We’ve been anticipating that we would start seeing cases in the UK at some point. That moment has arrived now.”
The team of doctors writing in ‘Thorax’, who highlighted the first 8 cases, have also called for a legal requirement to report cases of silicosis, as well as calling for the implementation of health and safety regulation for both small companies and national guidelines to treat and monitor for silicosis.
OVERVIEW
Customer / End User
Application
Industry
Country
Product(s) used
Challenge
British stone manufacturers underwent the XD1+ trial across their workforce and quarrying processes to engage further with their dust control measures. Worker exposure to airborne dust including silica dust was high, so the need for personal dust monitoring can be important across a range of different processes and activities.
Outcome
We provided two XD1+ Personal Dust Monitor devices as part of the XD1+ trial programme across Burlington Stone’s workforce to monitor for dust levels in both breathing zones and high activity areas across the site, to both determine causes of excess dust levels and support with effective dust control.
A manufacturer of prestigious natural stone, Burlington Stone have quarried for over 200 years across the English Lake District. Meeting each individual clients’ needs for roofing slate, flooring, cladding, interiors and landscapes, Burlington Stone extract and craft a diverse range of signature British natural slate and stone products.
We spoke to Health and Safety Manager at Burlington Stone, Peter Walker, to understand how deploying personal dust monitoring impacted processes in stone manufacturing and wider quarrying activities at Burlington Stone.
Across their range of projects, worker exposure to airborne dust including silica dust is high, so the need for personal dust monitoring can be important across a range of different processes and activities.
We provided two XD1+ Personal Dust Monitor devices as part of the XD1+ trial programme across Burlington Stone’s workforce to monitor for dust levels in both breathing zones and high activity areas across the site, to both determine causes of excess dust levels and support with effective dust control.
Being able to monitor in a variety of different locations and compare the differences in results through BreatheMOBILE is one of the main benefits which XD1+ has over similar products on the market.
This ability inevitably means trends in dust levels can be tracked and looked into in relation to what task was being completed in what location.
For Burlington Stone, the capability to both monitor dust levels and see live data not only helped to make health and safety decisions but also increased worker engagement on why these decisions were being made.
The versatility of the unit is absolutely fantastic, as XD1+ allowed us to monitor for two jobs at the same time. In one shed there is an L-shaped work conveyor with 10 people working on it, so we had one device on a worker at one end and another device at the other end, about 40 metres apart, and then monitored the outcome.
They were doing exactly the same task, with the same tools and risk assessment controls, but the difference in readings was shocking.
That was all down to how they wet damp their station down, how hard they hit the slate, how hard they drop the slates down or if they place them gently. The amount of behavioural traits the unit helped us notice was fantastic.”
It was interesting looking into workers doing certain tasks, and BreatheMOBILE is one of the simplest tools I’ve had to use!”
If we saw a spike, we could come back to that time and say, ‘There was a big spike at 10:30 am, what were you doing?’ and identify the spikes in relation to what activity was happening at that time.”
Deploying real-time personal monitoring isn’t just a short-term solution. It gives the workforce reasons to engage with their own health and safety protocols.
“It wasn’t intrusive on our staff and meant there was still freedom for them when working!
The guys themselves who aren’t normally involved in health and safety were really interested.
Once we were stood next to them with BreatheMOBILE on the phone showing them the graphs, they bought in instantly.
Suddenly, we got people hitting things with hammers and waiting to see the graphs change, because they could understand which tasks were causing the spike.”
