California regulators voted Thursday to impose a permanent set of workplace rules aimed at protecting countertop cutters from silicosis, an incurable disease that has been killing young workers . The unanimous vote by the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board extends and expands on workplace safety rules approved a year ago on an emergency basis, which are due to expire soon. The rules are aimed at stemming the rise among workers of silicosis, which results from inhaling tiny particles of crystalline silica that scar the lungs, leaving people struggling to breathe.
“This is a devastating disease. The evidence of its cause is overwhelming, and there’s something that we can do about it right now,” board Chair Joseph M. Alioto Jr.
said before voting for the rules. But “I’m concerned that the regulation, in some respects, does not go far enough.” The California board also voted unanimously to convene an advisory committee to continue assessing how to strengthen the rules and implement them effectively.
Alioto said the committee should also consider concerns about the rules raised by industry representatives. Cal/OSHA estimated the expected costs of the workplace rules at $106.5 million over a decade, which the agency said would be far outstripped by the estimated benefits of $492 million from preventing illness and deaths, not counting the “indirect costs” of pain and suffering, lost wages and lost productivity.
The rules require employers to t.
