Massachusetts On-Site Consultation Program worked with a small residential construction company that focuses on installing siding, roofing, skylights, gutters, replacement windows and more.

The company collaborated with the Massachusetts On-Site Consultation Program to assess its employees' exposure to respirable crystalline silica during the installation of Hardie Plank HZ5 boards on a residential home.

Respirable crystalline silica exposure can lead to chronic obstructive lung disease, lung cancer, silicosis, and kidney disease. By reducing employees' exposures, the company has significantly reduced their risks to such health effects.

Consultation provided recommendations on controls to reduce employees' exposure levels to respirable crystalline silica. As a result, the company:

• Purchased guillotine cutters for the fiber cement boards and three commercial grade D-Cut guillotine cutters with stabilizing stands to cut the Hardie Plank boards.
• Invested in its health and safety program to ensure that its' employees and subcontractor employees were not overexposed to respirable crystalline silica
• Changed worker protocols included conducting rip cuts of the boards by scoring the backs of the boards with a utility knife and then bending and breaking the boards.
• Reduced the employees' exposures from a maximum of 150 ug/m3 to below the laboratory's limit of detection (<LOD).

The OSHA On-Site Consultation Program offers no-cost and confidential occupational safety and health services to small and medium-sized businesses in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories, with priority given to high-hazard worksites. Consultants from state agencies or universities work with employers to identify workplace hazards and how to fix them, provide advice for compliance with OSHA standards, train and educate workers, and assist in establishing and improving safety and health programs. On-Site Consultation services are separate from OSHA enforcement efforts. To locate the OSHA On-Site Consultation program nearest you, call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) or visit www.osha.gov/consultation.