The Nation’s Largest Sand Producers Say a Proposed OSHA Silica Rule is Needed to Protect Workers
The Nation’s Largest Sand Producers Say a Proposed OSHA Silica Rule is Needed to Protect Workers |
The Nation’s Largest Sand Producers Say a Proposed OSHA Silica Rule is Needed to Protect Workers |
US Department of Labor’s OSHA announces proposed rule
to protect workers exposed to crystalline silica
Don’t Let Respirable Silica Dust You
By Donny Beaver, Co-Founder & CEO, HalenHardy
Part Seven in our series featured the July 2013 announcement by NIOSH about workers’ clothing being an eighth (8th) source of respirable silica in hydraulic fracturing. In addition, the HalenHardy team has identified 11 more areas of exposure before, during and after hydraulic fracturing including:
More than a year after listing the seven points of worker exposure to respirable silica dust in hydraulic fracturing operations, the same NIOSH researchers published an article outlining an eighth (8th) primary point of dust release and generation in the July 2013 American Industrial Hygiene Association magazine, The Synergist – “Keeping Up with the Oil and Gas Rush.” The authors, Eric Esswein and Ryan Hill, noted “work clothing (for example, flame retardant coveralls) contaminated with crystalline silica” is considered a dust release or generation point.
Part Six – NIOSH Identifies the 7 Main Sources of Respirable Silica Dust in Hydraulic Fracturing In June 2012 OSHA & NIOSH issued a joint “Hazard Alert on ensuring workers in hydraulic fracturing operations have appropriate protections from silica exposure”. The alert revealed that 79% of the 111 oil and gas exploration sites studied by NIOSH showed silica exposure levels greater the NIOSH Recommended Exposure Level (REL).
Thanks to its crush resistant attributes, silica sand is the preferred material used in hydraulic fracturing to prop open tiny fissures in shale formations that hold vast deposits of oil and natural gas. In fact, silica sand is so popular that a recent US Geological Survey Minerals Yearbook noted that frac sand demand has tripled in three years (from 20 to 60 billion pounds per year). Because the length of horizontal wells (laterals) continues to increase, more silica sand is used in nearly every well.
Comprehensive Guide to Minimizing Respirable Silica Dust Exposure in Hydraulic Fracturing
Part Four – What You Can’t See Can Hurt You
Comprehensive Guide to Minimizing Respirable Silica Dust Exposure in Hydraulic Fracturing
Part Three – Deadly Dust from Antiquity Stirs Up Challenges Today
Comprehensive Guide to Minimizing Respirable Silica Dust Exposure in Hydraulic Fracturing
Part Two – What is Silica and Why is it so Dangerous?