What is crystalline silica?
Silica is silicon dioxide, a naturally occurring and widely abundant mineral that forms the major component of most rocks and soils. There are non-crystalline and crystalline forms of silicon dioxide. The most common type of crystalline silica is quartz.
Different types of rock and rock products can contain different amounts of crystalline silica, for example:
Type | Amount of crystalline silica (%) |
Marble | 2 |
Limestone | 2 |
Slate | 25 to 40 |
Shale | 22 |
Granite | 20 to 45 (typically 30) |
Natural sandstone | 70 to 95 |
Artificial quartz | 88 to 92 |
What is silica dust?
Silica dust or respirable crystalline silica (RCS) is generated in workplace mechanical processes such as crushing, cutting, drilling, grinding, sawing, polishing, quarrying and tunnelling natural stone or man-made products that contain crystalline silica. Because the particles generated are so tiny, RCS can be breathed in and can penetrate deep into the lungs where they can cause irreversible lung damage.
What diseases can silica dust cause?
If a worker is exposed to and breathes in RCS they could develop:
* acute silicosis - can develop after a short exposure to very high levels of silica dust, within a few weeks or years, and causes severe inflammation and an outpouring of protein into the lung
* accelerated silicosis - can develop after exposures of 3 to 10 years to moderate to high levels of silica dust and causes inflammation, protein in the lung and scarring of the lung (fibrotic nodules)
* chronic silicosis - can develop after long term exposure to lower levels of silica dust. It can lead to fibrotic nodules, shortness of breath, and progressive massive fibrosis
* chronic bronchitis
* emphysema
* lung cancer
* kidney damage, or
* scleroderma - a disease of the connective tissue of the body resulting in the formation of scar tissue in the skin, joints and other organs of the body.
Low silica and zero silica quartz
To prevent and reduce the health risks caused of quartz stone, Korey Stone has developed low silica and zero siclia quartz. Most of the colors in our catalog have low silica and zero silica versions. Welcome to consult us for more information. Together we can make the engineered stone industry more health and environment friendly.
