Silica dust
Read these 5 points to the crew before work, ask the questions, and get signatures. Based on 29 CFR 1926.1153 (Table 1).
Say this
- Cutting, grinding or drilling concrete, block, brick or stone makes silica dust. It causes silicosis and lung cancer.
- Water on the blade or a vacuum shroud, every time.
- Follow Table 1 for the tool. It says when you need a respirator.
- No dry sweeping or compressed air. Wet sweep or HEPA vac.
- A written exposure control plan is required, and a competent person runs it.
Ask the crew
- Where on this site today does "silica dust" matter most?
- What would you do first if it went wrong?
- Who do you tell, and how?
Hazards on today's tasks
- Saw cutting: Silica dust from concrete, block, brick and stone
- Saw cutting: Kickback and blade contact
- Saw cutting: Noise
- Rock drilling and blasting support: Silica dust
- Rock drilling and blasting support: Flyrock and misfires
- Rock drilling and blasting support: Noise
- Asphalt milling: Silica dust from milling
- Asphalt milling: Struck by the milling machine or trucks under the conveyor
- Asphalt milling: Traffic
- Grinding and chipping concrete: Silica dust
- Grinding and chipping concrete: Hand-arm vibration
- Grinding and chipping concrete: Noise
- Core drilling concrete: Drill binding and twisting the operator
- Core drilling concrete: Electric shock: water plus power
- Core drilling concrete: Hitting rebar, conduit or post-tension cable
How to give it
Hold it where the work is, at the start of the shift, standing up. Read each point out loud, then point at the real thing on this site: the trench, the ladder, the machine, the cord. Ask the questions and wait for answers; the quiet ones often know the most. Keep it to about 5 minutes so it gets done every day.
Write down anything the crew raises and fix it before the work starts. Everyone signs, including subs and visitors working that shift. Keep the signed sheet with the day's JHA; it's your record that the training happened (29 CFR 1926.1153 (Table 1), and 29 CFR 1926.21(b)(2)).
Sign-in
| Name | Signature | Date |
|---|---|---|
Goes with the JHA for saw cutting, rock drilling and blasting support, asphalt milling, grinding and chipping concrete, core drilling concrete.
Questions crews ask
How long is the silica dust toolbox talk?
About 5 minutes: read the 5 points, ask the questions, and have the crew sign.
Which OSHA rule is it based on?
29 CFR 1926.1153 (Table 1).
Tomorrow, the crew signs on one phone.
Free for one site and one camera. $99 a site after. Crew is always free. 7 days of everything free, no card.