Here's the comment written under our uninformed silica beat-up titled 'Breath-Taking Views'. Seems we were wrong, mis-informed, possibly even sensationalist. But you already knew that about us.
Silicosis is caused by the the inhilation of respirable Quartz or Amorphous (non crystalline) silica.
Respirable dust is defined as particles in the 5 micron to 0.5 micron range.
Testwork done when I was an RTA employee indicated that there was no amorphous silica in the local dust and that quartz does not break down to 5 micons or smaller.
Whilst I appreciate the humour in some of your articles, this one could cause a lot of pain and or panic in people who do not know the facts including yourselves. I suggest that you remove the article and appologise or prepare for an onslaught.
Regards
An ex (retrenched) RTA employee.
1 comment:
I am also a retrenched RIO worker.
I also was involved in dust sampling across site.
Having worked in the clay mineral industry for over 30 years I can assure readers that quartz can breakdown to under 5 microns.
If you mean that the test work did not find any smaller than 5 microns then that's another story.
Also what is local dust, do you have any old figures for the calcination dust (Cerag)ex calcination, it would be interesting to see.
While it may not be harmful as in triggering silicosis you must agree it is not an ideal environment to live in.
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