What is MIOSHA?

1. What is MIOSHA? • Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Act (P.A. 154 of 1974, as amended) • Allows enforcement of occupational safety and health regulations at the state level versus the federal level (OSHA)

2. Definition - “employee” • “A person permitted to work by an employer” • Definition of an employee includes: • volunteers • students • interns • temporary help

3. Employer’s Responsibilities • Furnish to each employee a workplace that is free from recognized hazards that are causing, or likely to cause, death or serious physical harm • Comply with standards, regulations and orders issued pursuant to the Act • Keep employees informed of their protections and obligations under the Act including applicable rules and standards • Provide PPE at employer’s expense when required by a standard

4. Employee’s Responsibilities • Comply with standards and regulations covered under MIOSHA • Never remove, displace, damage, destroy or carry off a safeguard furnished or provided for use in the workplace • Cannot interfere in any way with the use of a safeguard by another person

5. Other Provisions Under MIOSHA • Employer/Employee participation in compliance inspections/investigations • Inspections: survey to detect presence of hazards and compliance with Act • Investigations: detailed evaluation of working conditions • Discrimination • Imminent danger

6. Other Provisions Under MIOSHA • Notification of fatality or catastrophe • Within 8 hours • 1 fatality or 3 or more hospitalizations from same incident • Recordkeeping • Variances • Permanent • Temporary

7. Inspection Procedures • Opening conference • Programs • I&I log (Forms 300, 300A, 301) • Hazard Communication • MIOSHA poster • Others (i.e., respirator) • Walk-through of facility • Sampling • Ventilation Check • Closing conference • Report sent MIOSHA Website to find I&I forms: www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-11407_30929---,00.html

8. Health Hazards of Abrasive Blasting • Silica • Noise • Metals • Mechanical

9. What is Silica? • “Crystalline Silica” and “Quartz” refer to the same thing • 2nd most common mineral in the earth’s crust • Major component of sand, rock, granite and mineral ore • Toxic and less/nontoxic forms

10. TOXIC Silica, Crystalline (as dust) Trade Names Cristobalite Tridymite Tripoli Quartz Common-Sandblasters NON/LESS TOXIC Silica, Amorphous Trade Names Diatomaceous earth Diatomaceous silica Diatomite Silica Gel Silicon Dioxide (amorphous) Types of Silica

11. What is Abrasive Blasting? • Operations where an abrasive is forcibly applied to a surface by pneumatic or hydraulic pressure or by centrifugal force. • Does not apply to steam blasting or steam cleaning or hydraulic-cleaning methods where work is done without the aid of abrasives • Frequently used for: • cleaning sand from foundry castings • cleaning and removing paint from metal surfaces • finishing tombstones • etching and frosting glass

12. What is Silicosis? • Lung disease • disabling • nonreversible • sometimes fatal • Cause: Inhalation of respirable crystalline silica • 1+ million American workers exposed/year • 250+ Americans will die with silicosis • No cure!

13. Who Is At Risk? • Blasters using silica sand as an abrasive • Blasters without adequate protection • Workers near the blast areas • cleaners • pot tenders • painters • Silicosis is preventable if employers and employees work together to reduce exposures

14. Why & What We Breathe Inhalation and Exhalation • Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Exchange • Air & Particulates • Small fraction of inhaled particles are deposited • Remainder are exhaled or removed • Particle size determines what stays in the lung

15. Respirable Dust • Less than 10 microns (µ) diameter • WHAT’S A MICRON? • 1/24,000 of an inch • Human Hair • 40 - 150 microns in diameter • Respirable Silica that causes Silicosis: • 0.2-5.0 (µ)

16. Your Bronchial Tree • Resembles the Branches on a Tree • Divided into Smaller and Smaller Branches • Bronchi • Bronchioles • Business End • Alveoli

17. How Does Exposure Occur? • During blasting, silica sand fractures into very fine particles and becomes airborne • Particles and dusts are inhaled and, if small enough, become imbedded in the lungs

18. Disease Process • Silica particles enter the alveoli and become trapped • Macrophages (white blood cells) try to “eat” and remove the silica from the lung • Silica causes macrophage cells to break and release material into lung tissue which causes scarring (fibrosis) • Scarring develops & grows around silica particles causing (nodules) to form

19. What are the Health Effects? • Early stages, may not notice any health effects • As condition worsens, nodules become larger, making breathing more difficult • Lungs can’t get enough oxygen from the air • may die from suffocation • May be complicated by tuberculosis

20. Forms of Silicosis • ACUTE • CHRONIC • Simple • Complicated • Accelerated

21. Acute Silicosis • Symptoms develop within a few weeks to 4-5 years after initial exposure • Very high exposure concentrations • Fluid accumulations in lungs

22. Chronic Silicosis • Simple • Complicated • Accelerated • 10+ years of exposure • relatively low exposure • 10+ years of exposure • relatively low exposure • Symptoms develop 5-10 years after exposure • moderate exposure

23. Simple Silicosis Nodules in upper lungs Nodules are small No symptoms Accelerated Silicosis Nodule formation similar to simple Symptoms similar to simple or complicated Complicated Silicosis Nodules in lungs Nodules are large Symptoms Secondary disease Chronic Silicosis

24. Dry or productive cough Breathlessness Loss of appetite Pain in chest Malaise Weight loss Secondary disease TB Respiratory failure Congestive heart failure Symptoms

25. Tuberculosis • Silica affects the cells that control TB infection (macrophages) • People with chronic silicosis more likely to get TB infections • Symptoms: • Coughing up blood • Fever • Shortness of breath

26. Carcinogenicity • Respirable crystalline silica has been classified as a Group I “known human carcinogen” • Lung Cancer • Silica exposure linked to: • Stomach Cancer • Skin Cancer • Lymphatic Cancer

27. Lung Cancer International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified respirable crystalline silica: KNOWN CANCER CAUSING AGENT • Lung Cancer • Symptoms: • Coughing up blood • Chest Pain • Shortness of breath

28. Diagnosis • Occupational work history • Symptoms • Chest X-ray • Pulmonary function test

29. Medical Exams • Baseline and every 3 years • Medical and occupational history • Chest X-ray • Pulmonary function test • TB skin test

30. NO CURE • Only secondary complications treated • TB • Respiratory Failure • Lung Cancer • Heart Disease

31. Occupational Disease Report • Within 10 days • All known or suspected occupational disease • Employer, physician, clinic, hospital • Annual summary • MIOSHA-MTSD-51 form • MIOSHA Website to find Occupation Disease Report Form: www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-11407_30929---,00.html

32. Noise • Noise: Unwanted sound • When noise exposure is too intense or prolonged, may cause harmful effects: • Temporary or permanent hearing loss • Fatigue, irritability, tension, circulatory effects • May not be able to hear warning signals

33. Noise Rules • Exposure Monitoring PEL = 90 dBA AL = 85 dBA • Hose noise must be monitored • If above PEL, engineering or administrative controls must be implemented • Seek out quieter equipment

34. Audiometric Testing • If above AL (action level) • Qualified personnel • Baseline • Annual - Standard Threshold Shift (STS)

35. Hearing Protection • Mandatory • Selection (formable plugs, premolded plugs, ear muffs) • Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) • Amount of decibels that a given device will reduce noise exposure Protected dBA=Unprotected dBA-[NRR-7] Example: • Unprotected Workplace Exposure dBA = 95 • Ear protection NRR = 19 • Protected dBA=95 – [19-7] = 95 – [12] • Protected dBA = 83

36. Metals • Lead • Long term exposure may result in damage to your nervous system, reproductive system, kidneys and blood forming system • Cadmium • Long term exposure may result in kidney damage, increased risk of prostate and lung cancer • Inorganic arsenic • Skin irritant, damage to your nervous system, liver and may cause lung cancer

37. Mechanical Hazards • Media ricochet • Being shot by another blaster • Jammed hose

38. Preventing Silicosis& Deaths From Sandblasting

39. What Precautions Can Reduce The Risk? • Substitute Alternative Blasting Medias • aluminum oxide • coal slag (watch out for arsenic) • steel shot and grit (low toxicity) • plastic media • corn cob • garnet • glass beads • copper slag (watch out for arsenic) • specular hematite (low toxicity)

40. What Precautions Can Reduce The Risk? • Post Warning signs to mark areas contaminated with crystalline silica • Provide Medical Examinations, including periodic x-rays, to all potentially exposed employees • Worker Training should include information on health effects, work practices, and protective equipment for silica • Report All Cases of Silicosis to the State on MIOSHA-MTSD-51 form (blue form)

41. What Precautions Can Reduce The Risk? • Conduct Air Monitoring to measure worker exposure • Use Proper Respiratory Equipment when exposures cannot be kept below the NIOSH Recommended Exposure Limit (REL) • Blast In Automatic Blast Cleaning Machines or Cabinets when possible, permitting workers to operate the machinery from outside • Maintain Dust Control Systems to make sure they are working properly

42. What Precautions Can Reduce The Risk? • Practice Good Personal Hygiene. Workers should wash their hands and face before eating, drinking or smoking • Wear Disposable Clothes • Shower and Change Clothesbeforeleaving the worksite • Park Carswhere they will not be contaminated with overspray • No Food, Drink or Tobacco in blasting area

43. Respiratory Protection • How to: • Determine whether a respirator is necessary • Select an appropriate respirator • Determine whether a respirator fits properly • Occupational Health Standard, Respiratory Protection, Part 451 • Occupational Health Standard, Abrasive Blasting, Part 523

44. When Do You Use Respiratory Protection? • PEL exceeded • IDLH/Oxygen deficiency • Engineering controls not feasible • Administrative controls not feasible

45. WHAT IS PEL? • Permissible Exposure Limit • OSHA PEL (respirable fraction) 10 mg/m3 % SiO2 + 2 • PEL varies by % crystalline silica

46. Abrasive Blasting • Engineering controls • enclosures • containment • ventilation • Typically do not control exposures to below the PEL of crystalline silica • Respiratory protection is necessary

47. Abrasive Blasting (Part 523) • Only approved respirators may be used • Employees must wear abrasive-blasting respirators when: • Working inside blast-cleaning rooms • Using silica sand in manual blasting operations where operator is not physically separated from blasting operation • When above PEL and operator not physically separated from blasting operation • Employees should wear respirators: • During clean-up operations

48. NIOSH Table • National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) • Specifies: • Type of respirator to be worn at different concentrations of silica exposure • Based on the assigned protection factors (APF) of the different types of respirators

49. Respirator APF • Assigned Protection Factor (APF): • The workplace level of respiratory protection that a respirator or class of respirators is expected to provide to employees when the employer implements a continuing, effective respiratory protection program

50. Respirator MUC • Maximum Use Concentration: • The maximum atmospheric concentration of a hazardous substance from which an employee can be expected to be protected when wearing a respirator, and is determined by the APF of the respirator or class of respirators and the exposure limit of the hazardous substance. • Determined mathematically by multiplying the APF specified for a respirator by the required OSHA PEL, short-term exposure limit, or ceiling limit. When no OSHA exposure limit is available for a hazardous substance, an employer must determine an MUC on the basis of relevant available information and informed professional judgment.