Crystalline silica, which is found in most types of rock and becomes airborne
as dust, has been associated with serious diseases for many years. As
early as 1974, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) evaluated the available information on the health effects of silica,
and described reports of the potentially fatal lung disease silicosis
from hundreds of years ago. In 2002, NIOSH again examined the health risks
of silica, and found that exposure silica causes lung cancer, in addition
to silicosis and other serious and often deadly illnesses. NIOSH's
2002 hazard review on silica can be found online here. (https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2002-129/pdfs/2002-129.pdf).
Researchers at NIOSH recently published a study in which they found that
workers at hydraulic fracturing sites are exposed to excessive crystalline
silica, sometimes more than ten times the government's exposure limit
for silica. Crystalline silica is a component of sand used in the process
of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." As the authors of the
NIOSH study describe, silica sand is commonly used as a "proppant,"
holding open the cracks from which oil or gas is extracted.
The use of large amounts of sand in the fracking process creates crystalline
silica dust. The NIOSH investigators evaluated 11 sites in five states,
identifying seven points in the operations where dust was generated. Not
surprisingly, workers who jobs were near sand moving operations generally
experienced the highest exposures, but even employees who spent less time
near those operations sometimes experienced high exposures.
The NIOSH researchers found excessive exposures at all 11 sites, in spite
of the fact that many of the workers wore air-filtering respirators. Interestingly,
the study noted that silica exposures were lower at one worksite in North
Dakota where a ceramic substance was used as a proppant in place of some
silica sand. The NIOSH study can be found online here. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15459624.2013.788352​).
Among the sites studied was an operation in the Marcellus Shale Formation
in Pennsylvania. The Marcellus formation runs from New York to Virginia,
and runs under parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, and
New Jersey as well.
While hydraulic fracturing has brought economic opportunity to our region,
NIOSH's research highlights the importance of protecting the workers
whose efforts fuel that opportunity. At Hartley Law Group, we have been
representing workers who have been hurt or sickened on the job for 30
years, and our clients have included workers exposed to silica, as well
as the men and women of the oil and gas industry. If you or a loved one
has been injured on the job, we would like to help.