The BCCSA has developed the Silica Control Tool™ as a resource for the construction industry in BC. The Tool assists employers in conducting appropriate risk assessments and implementing effective controls and safe work practices where RCS dust may be an occupational hazard. Through the compilation of data relating to RCS dust exposures pertaining to various materials, tools and tasks in construction, the Tool can predict the expected exposures to workers under similar conditions.
New provisions under the OHSR permit employers to use existing monitoring data from equivalent work operations as an alternative to air monitor testing, in appropriate cases. This means that employers can look to the Tool as a means of using "...objective exposure monitoring data that was collected during equivalent work operations through industry surveys or peer reviewed or scientific studies". The Tool relies on scientific studies and data collected through research of a team from the UBC School of Population and Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine.
Based on the information the user inputs, the Tool identifies processes that may lead to exposures over the allowable exposure control limit, provides information about how to bring the exposure within the allowable limit, and produces a corresponding Exposure Control Plan (ECP) for the user.
Silica Control Tool™ Animated Information Video
Click here to access the tool and to create an account