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 CPWR EXTRA

 

March 2015

NIOSH, Partnership Promote Practices to Control Silica Exposures during Asphalt Pavement Milling   
  
Milling asphalt pavement allows us to recycle materials while resurfacing our roads -- but cold-milling machines can generate airborne crystalline silica dust, putting road crews at risk of respiratory illness.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has teamed up with an array of industry stakeholders -- heavy/highway construction contractors, labor organizations, equipment manufacturers, and government officials -- to identify solutions. The work of the Silica/Asphalt Milling Machine Partnership informs a new NIOSH document, Best Practice Engineering Control Guidelines to Control Worker Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica during Asphalt Pavement Milling.

 

"Inhalation of respirable crystalline silica can cause silicosis, a debilitating and potentially fatal lung disease, and other possible adverse health outcomes," said  NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. "This collaborative effort by labor, industry and government reflects the current knowledge of best practices and a partnership that has succeeded in developing recommended engineering controls for these worksites."

 

Dr. Christine Branche, Director of NIOSH's Office of Construction Safety and Health, will present highlights from the document in Baltimore on March 17th at the 2015 World of Asphalt Show & Conference.

 

To support the effort, CPWR has teamed up with NIOSH and the Partnership to produce a brief Field Guide for Controlling Silica Dust Exposure on Asphalt Pavement Milling Machines. Click HERE to download a copy from the CPWR website.

 

Pete Stafford

Executive Director    

 
    
CPWR IN PRINT

Recently Published Journal Articles by CPWR Scholars

  

Risks of a lifetime in construction, part II: Traumatic injuries

Knut Ringen, John Dement, Laura Welch, Xiuwen Sue Dong, Eula Bingham and Patricia Quinn. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, November 2014.

 

Risks of a lifetime in construction, part I: Traumatic injuries

Xiuwen Sue Dong, Knut Ringen, Laura Welch, and John Dement American Journal of Industrial Medicine, September 2014.  



 

 

ABOUT US

 

CPWR -- The Center for Construction Research and Training is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created by the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO. Working with partners like you in business, labor, government, and the universities, we strive every day to make work safer for the 9 million men and women who work in the U.S. construction industry!