NIOSH seeks help from contractors for silica study
Washington – Construction contractors who work with fiber cement siding are being asked to participate in a NIOSH study that aims to determine the effectiveness of a low-cost silica control measure.
NIOSH wants to determine if connecting a regular shop vacuum to a circular saw can reduce silica exposure when cutting fiber cement siding. Workers would wear a small sampling device on their clothing and use NIOSH-provided equipment as part of the study. Interruptions to collect the samples would be limited and workers can do their jobs as they normally would, according to NIOSH.
The institute is specifically looking for contractors whose companies have:
- At least three years of field experience cutting fiber cement siding with a circular saw
- Installed fiber cement siding on at least three large residential jobs
- An upcoming job where fiber cement siding will be cut and installed during at least three eight-hour days
Interested contractors should email NIOSH at [email protected].
Post a comment to this article
Safety+Health welcomes comments that promote respectful dialogue. Please stay on topic. Comments that contain personal attacks, profanity or abusive language – or those aggressively promoting products or services – will be removed. We reserve the right to determine which comments violate our comment policy. (Anonymous comments are welcome; merely skip the “name” field in the comment box. An email address is required but will not be included with your comment.)