Silica Protection
Alberta’s construction industry has a statutory obligation to minimize harm to their workers from occupational
exposure to crystalline silica and related products, with a statutory occupational exposure limit of .025 grams per cubic metre air per 8 hour working day.
Silica and related products are found in numerous construction materials, and testing of Alberta commercial
construction sites has found that the dust and debris created through numerous construction tasks (eg. concrete coring, sanding of drywall) has the potential to expose all trades on a site to the hazard.
The Alberta Construction Association (ACA) has developed the documents below for your use. While these practices
are not mandatory, they provide guidance to assist members in assessing and minimizing exposure to site specific silica hazards. The Association strongly urges your firm to make use of these documents and work to achieve best practices to safeguard your employees and achieve regulatory compliance.
ACA thanks the approximately three dozen industry volunteers that created these documents. The practices are living documents and will improve with continued member input.
ACA is working with the Alberta Construction Safety Association to develop awareness and supervisor training for 2017. Once these practices are well established on Alberta jobsites, ACA plans to test with OHS to obtain hard evidence to confirm whether the current statutory limit is technically and economically feasible.
