Quartz is used for countertops in millions of homes around the world — the manmade stone is popular for its beauty and durability. But for workers who make, cut and install quartz counters, it can be deadly. The World reported from Turkey, Spain and Australia — three stops along the quartz countertop supply chain — to learn more about silicosis, an incurable and often fatal lung disease caused by inhaling dust laden with excessive amounts of a mineral called silica.
Each worker received a filtered face mask every six months. But one by one, Girgin’s coworkers still fell ill with silicosis—a lung disease caused by breathing in dust from silica-laden materials. The immune system typically produces mucus as a protective measure, but eventually, the mucus clogs the lungs, which inevitably leads to suffocation.
Growing up in Çine, Girgin saw a neighbor get sick and die within a year.
There is no cure for silicosis.
1 mask to use for 6 months doesn’t seem like it’s anywhere near enough. But my question is was the mask of sufficient quality to start with, or did it degrade into an insufficient state? Or were they given the mask but chose not to use it?
Given the conditions of being in an inclosed space with no air circulation, safety doesn’t seem to be a top priority. Breathing in any type of fine particles in that amount consistently isn’t going to be good long term.
Masks are only supposed to be used as the very last resort ,it matters not a jot if you have a top of the range respirator ,in those conditions workers could put a new filter in their masks every morning and they would still be breathing in dust . No fit is ever perfect and they all leak.
There simply should be no people working in such areas, full stop. Not even if they were kitted out with PAPR respirators and the unit had a regulator specified and fully certified LEV system running 24/7. These are areas where only machines should be employed . But once again it all comes down to production costs and profit…People are cheap. Take care ,stay safe and dust free.
