Every day, thousands of individuals wake up and prepare for work at the shop or on the jobsite. Many times, they are heading out to tear out and install a beautiful new tiled residential bathroom, or perhaps they are going to finish off that 2,000-square-foot luxury hotel lobby. Whatever is in store for them, aside from mixing, matching and mortaring, tile contractors need to take time to get serious about respiratory safety.
Respirable crystalline silica is a dangerous hazard that millions of workers are unknowingly exposed to every year. Of these estimated 2 million workers, 840,000 of them are exposed to silica that exceeds the permissible exposure limit (PEL) or the amount of exposure deemed safe. Around 90% of these individuals are employed in the construction industry.