Silicosis mortality, prevention, and control.

Publication: Safety Now

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Aspen Publishers, Inc.

The following article is adapted from a recent issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta.

Silicosis is a preventable occupational lung disease caused by inhaling dust containing crystalline silica; no effective treatment for silicosis is available. Deaths from inhalation of silica-containing dust can occur after just a few months' exposure.

Crystalline silica exposure and silicosis have been associated with work in mining, quarrying, tunneling, sandblasting. masonry, foundry work, glass manufacture, ceramic and pottery production, cement and concrete production, and work with certain materials in dental laboratories. To describe patterns of silicosis mortality in the United States, CDC analyzed data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Occupational Respiratory Mortality System (NORMS) for 1968 to 2002.

That analysis indicated a decline in silicosis...

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