Silica Exposure in the Construction Industry - New OSHA Regulations

Crystalline silica is a common mineral found in the earth's crust. Silica is a mineral made up of silicon and oxygen, two of the most common elements .. Read more on the planet. It comes in several forms, although by far the most common is crystalline silica. Crystalline silica is so abundant that it makes up over 12% of the earth's crust, making it the second-most common mineral on the planet. Respirable crystalline silica means quartz and quartz is the most common of these, which transforms into cristobalite when heated at high temperatures (over 1450 °C). The presence of Cristobalite, and/or tridymite, which are contained in airborne particles, can be determined to be respirable size particles by performing a specific type of air sampling. The air sampling device used must be one specifically designed to meet the characteristics for respirable-particles, it must be size-selective and be one that is specified in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 7708:1995: Air Quality-Particle Size Fraction Definitions for Health-Related Sampling.