DCHAS-L Archives, Apr 01 2016 - Re: [DCHAS-L] DCHAS-L Digest

=E2=80=8BMonona - as usual you're on point; and it's not just the Art Departments either! Our University's painters (mixing spackle, sanding sheetrock), groundspeople/masons (repairing stone/brick/concrete), the Crafts instructional program (mixing dry clay, ugh, but at least they do it outside), possibly the Construction Management Dept ('cause lord knows what all they do), =E2=80=8Band probably others I haven't yet thought of have potential exposure to silica.

Thanks in large part to your assistance a number of years ago, we have largely eliminated the Art Department's potential exposure. In case it's of help to anyone else on the list, here are the things we did relative to silica:

1. Convinced the Art Dept to do away with mixing dry clays. Previously, they taught students how to mix their own clay, using a mixer located inside. Now students still learn about different clay properties, but they select from ready-made clays instead. Increased the studio fee but eliminated the worst hazard.

2. Convinced dean of the school to use some lapsed salary money to purchase a Nilfisk HEPA vacuum. This is used daily to clean clay areas, rather than the old procedure of sweeping with a sweeping compound..

3. Installed half-a-million dollars' worth of local exhaust ventilation to control emissions from various sources, including where they mix glazes (these include silica and some heavy metals) and break out sand molds (monitored this activity as well).

4. Changed mixing method for making sand molds (cut open end of bag, put it end down, and slowly pull bag off of the sand -- vs old method of just pouring the sand into the concrete mixer) so that less silica is emitted. Monitored to verify.

And in case it's not obvious, I'll be forever grateful to Monona for all the time she spent helping me get a handle on these problems!

- mmc

=E2=80=8B=E2=80=8BMary M. Cavanaugh, CIH

Occupational Health Manager &

University Industrial Hygienist

ASU EHS&EM Office

ASU Box 32140

Boone NC 28608-2140

(828) 262-6838

c a v a n a u g h m m **At_Symbol_Here** a p p s t a t e . e d u

safety.appstate.edu

=E2=80=8B

On Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 12:00 AM, DCHAS-L automatic digest system <LISTSERV**At_Symbol_Here**listserv.med.cornell.edu> wrote:

From: Monona Rossol <actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com>
Re: New Silica Standard--air monitoring

Ralph: can we start a new thread?

I just read the new Silica Standard and unless I'm missing something it looks like most universities and colleges with an art department will be doing some silica monitoring before June 23, 2018.

In order not to do a written program and medical surveillance, you can be exempted if you have "objective data demonstrating that employee exposure to respirable crystalline silica will remain below 25 micrograms per cubic meter of air (25 ug/m3) as an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) under any foreseeable conditions." 1910.1053(a)(2)

The kicker is "any foreseeable conditions" since they do such crazy things there. And if your school mixes clay from scratch from 50 pound bags of powdered clay, ooops. Or if they sand dry clay, mix glazes without local exhaust, if custodians clean up with a broom, etc., that may mean you will be writing another program and doing medical surveillance by 2018.

While the PEL is 50 ug/m3, the action limit for the exemption is 25 ug/m3.

Same goes for stone sculpture, some types of ceramic shell casting, jewelry and metal workers use of investment mold materials (~80% respirable silica), and on and on.

Always the bearer of glad tidings I remain,

Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist
President: Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.
Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE
181 Thompson St., #23
New York, NY 10012 212-777-0062
actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com www.artscraftstheatersafety.org

=E2=80=8B

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