| Crystalline silica is found in sand, stone, concrete and mortar. It is used to make a variety of products, including benchtops, bricks, tiles, and some plastics. When workers cut, crush, drill, polish, saw, or grind products containing silica, very fine dust particles known as Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) are produced. When RCS is inhaled on a regular basis, it can cause serious illness or disease including silicosis. The following slides are prescriptive controls for common tasks that are mandatory requirements on all Coral Homes construction sites. The Queensland Code of Practice (Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022) specifies regulatory requirements. Failure to comply with these requirements may lead to prosecution for workers, and their employers. All PCBU’s working for Coral Homes must read and understand this Code of Practice, with particular attention to the prescriptive control tables in Appendix 4. In addition to this, all PCBU’s must ensure that they have sufficient controls in their SWMS for all tasks being undertaken by their workers that generates silica dust. If the PCBU is allowing any tasks to be undertaken that require RPE as one of the controls (as per appendix 4), it is the PCBU’s sole responsibility to ensure that the worker’s RPE is appropriately fit tested, that fit testing records are available onsite, and the PCBU is complying with the required health monitoring for all their workers. |
Managing Respirable Crystalline Silica Dust Exposure in QLD
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Coral Homes - Site Safety 