Masonry Magazine February 2004 Page. 41
"Not to make light of safety issues, but this standard needs to go away."
At press time for this issue, we are still waiting on the final verdict concerning the silica standard proposed by OSHA several months ago (see "Government Affairs," pg. 8). Although no one doubts the need to protect workers against the dust byproduct of drilling and sawing, the absurd measures that OSHA has planned puts mason contractors and other industries in jeopardy if passed. Not only that, manufacturers of drills, saws and other equipment are affected by these potential changes as well.
Masonry recently spoke to Multiquip's Jeff Arnswald, General Manager, Boise Operations and Manager of Engineering, on how these possible changes might affect their industry.
Masonry: What are your overall thoughts about the proposed OSHA silica standard?
Arnswald: Not to make light of safety issues, but this standard needs to go away.
Masonry: That's pretty much how everyone is feeling about it.
Arnswald: If the standard goes through, as is, it will have a large impact on the products that we provide, masonry and concrete saws, and the users of the products. We will have to address it by either recommending more people to wet-cut versus dry-cut, and/or designing and building vacuum systems to be utilized on the machines.
We've already seen several manufacturers come out with vacuum attachments for their saws. There will be a mix of those who will rely on third-party vacuum attachments, while others will design their own systems. In either case it will be an expensive proposition.
Masonry: If this standard passes, what are some potential problems that you see in the field?
Arnswald: Oftentimes, masons use a hand-held cut-off saw to cut the brick or block rather than going through the process of having a crewmember on the ground making cuts with a table saw and then having to pass the materials up. There will obviously need to be a change in this process since this is generally done dry.
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The Voice of the Mason Contractor
February 2004
Masonry 39