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Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

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Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#421

Post by simne »

corndoge wrote: post #392

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does a respirator not solve this problem? The article and many comments here seem to blame people wanting cheap countertops as either part or all of the issue, but if it's safe to cut them with a respirator or wet saw, the focus should be on making companies give their workers respirators/wet saws and enforce their use.

We in Ukraine have really large number of people with this problem, but mostly from coal industry.

Actually, it is possible to transplant lung, but sure, this is not solution of real problem, people for some reason cannot fulfill safety considerations.

In reality, what I seen myself, in such cases, all adequate people work with respirator or gas mask, they are now extremely affordable.

And yes, I many times hear, they feel discomfort, it is usually really hot in coal mine, so people frequently take off mask, and for short moment of slight comfort, sacrifice their health.

Unfortunately, after covid I understand them. Yes, psychology don't like wear mask, even when it is not really limiting breath.

I few times have to just sit in mask for 2-4 hours, this was extremely hard.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#422

Post by SAI_Peregrinus »

abakker wrote: post #352
WhatsTheBigIdea wrote: post #348

Some interesting things about silicosis are... 1) The ancient Greeks and Romans knew about the hazards of breathing dust, and knew that stone workers were particularly at risk. 2) The name Silicosis was coined in 1870 by Achille Visconti who was studying lung disease in hard-rock miners. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis 3) Silicosis can be entirely avoided by cutting stone (and silicon bearing ceramic material…

Wearing a full face respirator with p99 or other equivalent cartridges and using an Air Quality monitor to evaluate safe working conditions really help. PPI is VERY important, and so many people ignore it. Edit: changed wording to agree with you.

Do you mean PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) instead of PPI? I'm pretty sure proton pump inhibitors aren't relevant here, and they're the most health-related expansion of the acronym I could find.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#423

Post by pixl97 »

pavlov wrote: post #308

For me, the essential summary of the comments was this one: “All this thanks to synthetic stone - important note for countertops owners, if you want to make sure you don't support the product”

Yes, but not really. There are piles of industry around the world that deal with silica and don't have workers dying left and right. There are also piles of industries that do have workers dying left and right.

The difference is not in the danger of the materials.

The difference is supplying safety equipment and having a culture that demands the use of it.

Regulations work.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#424

Post by positr0n »

pseudosavant wrote: post #331
goalieca wrote: post #322

> Pale dust rose around them as they worked. Many went without masks. Some had water spurting from their machines, but others had nothing to tamp down the powder rising in the air. Safety regulations need to be put in place with the cheapest being a good quality respirator.

A scenario I have encountered many times is having someone doing work for me, they don't bring some basic safety gear like earplugs or masks. I have plenty of earplugs and masks though. Buy I can never get them to actually use them. They'd rather hear that jackhammer at full volume apparently? As a musician, it especially kills me to watch people destroy their ears. These workers are often too young to appreciate goo…

My coworker got an acid etched back patio. The guy doing it was throwing the acid out of a 5 gal bucket with his bare hands. She asked "shouldn't you use gloves for that?"

"I used to, but the acid kept dissolving them."

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#425

Post by mindslight »

eropple wrote: post #41
bluGill wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever wore a respirator? Not a mask (which all already uncomfortable to wear all day), but the full respirator which is what is needed for this dust. I've done it for an hour when working with chemicals (different filter from dust, but otherwise the same) and I was glad to get it off.it is hard to blame someone for not wanting to wear them all day. They still should. If you need to wear a respirator all day i…

I have a wood shop, I wear a respirator constantly unless I've got the doors open and the fans on and I'm not going to be doing more than a one-off cut that afternoon. A properly fitted 3M 6800-series full-face respirator is pretty comfortable even for long periods and while wearing glasses. A 6200-series half-mask is even more comfortable, though a little awkward with glasses. The only problem is that a 6800-series…

I too am a proponent of proper half face respirators (7500 here), and they are quite comfortable compared to the various disposable solutions, but I'd still acknowledge that wearing one does carry some discomfort. Not enough to make me want to get silicosis instead, but also not so little that I can confidently say I'm happy wearing it for 8 hours.

What's your solution for the full face with glasses? The spectacle kit looks like it's a frame that you need to get custom lenses put into. The few times I've worn mine (FF-400) I've just suffered the extra ear pressure, but it's not great. It's also a size too small because it was what was in stock at the start of Covid when nobody knew wtf was going to happen, but I don't see that increasing one size would change much. I plan to eventually trying to form a custom thing to hold a regular pair of glasses.

And have you really found the P100 cartridges need to be discarded every few weeks? The only things I've found say that particulate filters only need to be discarded when they become difficult to breathe through, and I've never actually reached that point.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#426

Post by mcguire »

smeyer wrote: post #388
SoftTalker wrote: post #380

Weird this is happening in California of all places, the most regulated state in the country when it comes to potentially hazardous materials and workplace and consumer safety?

Do the same characteristics that make it the most regulated state also make it the state most likely to notice these hazards before other states do? If so, it wouldn't be very weird.

My initial thought was, "Why wouldn't this be showing up everywhere?" Then, I thought "Oh, yeah."

Poking around on the CDC site, it seems like the most recent data they have up is from 2014.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#427

Post by xwdv »

k0k0 wrote: post #375
xwdv wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see the same thing happen even in software. A developer here died 2 years ago, now 2 years later his contributions to the code base have finally been completely erased and replaced.

His code contributions led to his demise? If not, I think you missed the point.

Killed in a rollover car accident while driving to the office.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#428

Post by dang »

slumpt_ wrote: post #351
dang wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't take HN threads on generic nationalistic flamewar tangents. I'm sure you didn't intend it, but that's what this leads to, in the statistical case. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: we've had to ask you not to do this on HN more than once before. Please avoid it in the future. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34492512 (Jan 2023) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34073107 (Dec 2…

He was drawing a pretty reasonable comparison between economic incentives in the respective countries and how it has downstream affects for regulatory response. Don't make it something it isn't.

You make a good point, enough for me to realize that I misunderstood the comment. Still, the last sentence of the GP comment veered into nationalistic putdown.

Flamebait in a comment has to do with the most inflammatory thing it contains, not the most interesting thing. When a house is on fire, people don't admire the décor.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#429

Post by rayiner »

aaomidi wrote: post #299
rayiner wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you going to have “more worker rights” when your workforce is desperate, poorly educated immigrants who come from countries with no labor or workplace safety protections? Counter cutting is a custom business—these aren’t mega corps you can easily regulate. Did you know that this was even a problem until you read this article? Do you think do gooders can be everywhere to observe this sort of thing and bring it…

You give those immigrants legal protections. Also you pass laws that support striking workers with UI. There are effective ways to increase the strength of the working class. Anti trust action is another huge one.

> You give those immigrants legal protections

They already have legal protections for this. The problem is the workforce is poorly educated immigrants who, who are fleeing desperate circumstances and have different expectations compared to native born Americans. They’re much less likely to strike to demand better conditions when they’re just grateful things are better than in back home.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#430

Post by abakker »

SAI_Peregrinus wrote: post #422
abakker wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wearing a full face respirator with p99 or other equivalent cartridges and using an Air Quality monitor to evaluate safe working conditions really help. PPI is VERY important, and so many people ignore it. Edit: changed wording to agree with you.

Do you mean PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) instead of PPI? I'm pretty sure proton pump inhibitors aren't relevant here, and they're the most health-related expansion of the acronym I could find.

Sorry, yes, PPE was what I meant. Fat fingered that one entirely. I doubt Omeprazole can do much for silicosis. /s
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