OSHA on Silica Dust

OSHA says that seriousness of the health hazards associated with silica exposure is demonstrated by the fatalities and disabling illnesses that continue to occur. In 2005, the most recent year for which data is available, silicosis was identified on 161 death certificates as an underlying or contributing cause of death. It is likely that many more cases have occurred where silicosis went undetected. Read More...

Working Safely With Silica

Silicosis is preventable, yet hundreds die of it each year and thousands more are disabled. It doesn’t have to happen. Read More...

If It's Silica, It's Not Just Dust

"If It's Silica, It's Not Just Dust" - those are the watchwords for a national public education campaign to prevent silicosis - a disabling, sometimes fatal, lung disease caused by workers' overexposure to silica dust.

In the forefront of the campaign has been the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), along with the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the American Lung Association.
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Death by Silica Dust

Last week, a short letter to the editor appeared in the Red Wing newspaper. The writer, Ina Christofferson, lost her husband to silicosis, one of the diseases caused by silica dust. Ina said, "I just feel the need to respond to silica mining." Here's her story. Read More...

The Dangers of Crystalline Silica

Silica can be deadly. Click here to for a nine-minute video in which students at the UW Eau Claire’s Envronmental Public Health Program explain it to you. It might take a little time to load.

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The Dangers of Silica

Silicosis is a disabling, nonreversible and sometimes fatal lung disease caused by overexposure to respirable crystalline silica.

According to a representative of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, people who live in the area of a sand mine are more exposed to silica dust than the workers in the mine itself.