Approximately 587,000 Australian workers were exposed to silica dust in the workplace in 2011. It has been estimated that 5,758 of these will develop a lung cancer over the course of their life because of silica dust exposure.
Workers at most risk
- miners
- tunnellers
- demolition workers
- stonemasons
- quarriers
- construction workers
- farmers
Activities that can generate respirable crystalline silica (RCS)
- using power tools to cut, grind or polish natural and engineered stone countertops
- excavation, earth moving and drilling plant operations
- clay and stone processing machine operations
- paving and surfacing
- mining, quarrying, mineral ore treating processes
- mechanical screening
- road construction and tunnelling
- construction and demolition
- brick, concrete or stone cutting; especially using dry methods
- abrasive blasting
- foundry casting
- angle grinding, jack hammering and chiselling of concrete or masonry
- hydraulic fracturing of gas and oil wells
- making pottery and ceramics
- crushing, loading, hauling and dumping of rock
- cutting and polishing gemstones.