Granite, like most natural stones, contains radioactive material. While this isn’t much of a concern for a person who spends a few hours in a kitchen with granite countertops every day, new research by David Bernhardt, Linda Kincaid, and Al Gerhart suggests that the workers who fabricate those countertops might have reason to worry.
When they cut granite slabs to fit a room and to have nice edges, corners, and cut-outs for sinks and appliances, workers’ saws can create a lot of dust, and that dust can contain uranium, thorium, and other radioactive materials. If the dust isn’t properly controlled and the workers are not wearing the right protective equipment, they can inhale the dust, where it can cause real damage to the vulnerable tissues in their lungs. Based on limited sampling and some conservative assumptions about control equipment and exposure duration, Bernhardt, Kincaid, and Gerhart suggest that stone cutters could potentially be exposed to radiation levels many times greater than recommended exposure levels for the general public.
Granite’s radiation problem is not new, and the Marble Institute of America, one of the industry’s main trade associations, was quick to commission its own study to challenge the worker exposure research. The MIA-commissioned study questioned Bernhardt et al.’s sampling techniques and statistical analysis. And the MIA, for its part, argued that it is standard practice within the industry to use wet-cutting techniques (which would limit dust but weren’t used when Kincaid and Gerhart did their sampling). But by the MIA’s own account, over 25 percent of stone fabricators don’t use those techniques.
Where does OSHA fit into this picture? On the enforcement side, the Scripps Howard News Service report on Bernhardt et al.’s work notes that:
Inspecting 133 of the nation's 64,000 stone cutting facilities from October 2007 to September 2008, authorities from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration -- part of the U.S. Department of Labor -- issued 185 citations for respiratory violations and 54 citations for air contaminants, according to OSHA data.
These data, bad enough in their own right, are particularly disturbing when you take into consideration that OSHA’s enforcement only reaches the workshops where rough cuts are made – OSHA inspectors probably will not get out to job sites where workers might not have proper ventilation, proper protective equipment, or wet-cutting tools.
On the standard-setting front, OSHA is currently working on updating its standard for occupational exposure to crystalline silica, the main health hazard linked to granite cutting. The current standard is based on obsolete science from the 1950s and ‘60s. An update is long overdue and, according to OSHA, “both industry and worker groups have recognized that a comprehensive standard for crystalline silica is needed to provide for exposure monitoring, medical surveillance, and worker training.” If it is not too late in the process now, this would be a good opportunity for OSHA to consider how a new standard, while designed primarily to prevent silicosis, might have the added benefit of limiting workers’ exposure to radioactive materials.
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Matt Shudtz | September 14, 2009
Granite, like most natural stones, contains radioactive material. While this isn’t much of a concern for a person who spends a few hours in a kitchen with granite countertops every day, new research by David Bernhardt, Linda Kincaid, and Al Gerhart suggests that the workers who fabricate those countertops might have reason to worry. When […]
Kirsten Engel | September 11, 2009
Five State Attorneys General sent a letter to the Senate leadership on August 31st urging the Senate to enact strong climate legislation. The AGs letter is unusual in that states directly lobbying Congress on the details of federal legislation is a fairly infrequent phenomenon in and of itself. The AGs from California, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, […]
Holly Doremus | September 11, 2009
This item cross-posted by permission from Legal Planet. EPA today announced that it would review 79 pending applications for Clean Water Act section 404 permits for surface coal mining projects in Appalachia (hat tip: Coal Tattoo). This review is good news, and an indication that EPA may be developing a backbone with respect to the […]
Shana Campbell Jones | September 10, 2009
Today at 12:30pm the Federal Leadership Committee released, pursuant to President Obama’s Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration Executive Order, seven draft reports to improve Bay restoration. Each report is about 50 pages, so there’s a lot of information to take in – from strengthening water quality to strengthening storm water management to assessing the impacts […]
Yee Huang | September 10, 2009
On Tuesday the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a report on the status of state and federal agriculture policies for five Chesapeake Bay watershed states: Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia. The report focuses on agriculture policies that impact water quality and highlights a gaping hole in the regulation of animal-based operations. Past and […]
Rena Steinzor | September 10, 2009
After weeks of sustained attack from the right-wing on issues that are marginal to the job the President asked him to do, Cass Sunstein has emerged from the nomination process bloody but apparently unbowed (here's this afternoon's roll call). He is now the nation’s “regulatory czar,” Director of the White House OMB Office of Information and […]
Ben Somberg | September 9, 2009
Late this afternoon the Senate ended debate, in a 63-35 cloture vote, on the nomination of Cass Sunstein for Administrator of the Office of Information and Reuglatory Affairs (OIRA). Here's a quick look back at what CPR scholars have said about the Sunstein nomination and the role of OIRA in regulatory policy: CPR Member Scholars' […]
Thomas McGarity | September 9, 2009
Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration implemented a 2007 food safety statute by promulgating a rule requiring food manufacturers to report instances of foodborne diseases to an electronic database that the agency has just established (the Reportable Food Registry). This long-awaited database will help epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control, state health agencies and […]
Yee Huang | September 9, 2009
A feature article Sunday in the Philadelphia Inquirer, by Sandy Bauers, describes the impressive restoration of the Lititz Run, a stream located in the Lower Susquehanna Watershed in Pennsylvania. Lititz Run flows into the Susquehanna River, which contributes about 40 percent of the nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay, as well as a significant amount of […]