Hey yall, my current employer has recently started having safety meetings with us to tell us OSHA is now paying attention to our industry and cracking down.
I work as a Granite/solid surfaces installer and previously was a Fabricator. Silica dust is in most stones from my understanding but the man made quartz is especially bad.
I was at my previous company for about 2 years. As far as I remember I never signed any form making me aware of silica dust. I had heard a little about it but no one ever showed any cause for worry. I started as an installer there. Installing often requires cutting and polishing stone in the field. When possible we would do it out side which didn't really protect us but kept the homeowners house clean. Frequently we still had to cut indoors though. After about a year there I moved to the shop where we “wet polished”. Despite water being used everything in that shop was covered in stone dust. The saw department often did dry cuts as well. I have several videos of the fan systems being blown out as a way of cleaning and of the dry cuts resulting in hazy air full of the dust to the point you taste it. No proper respirators or even masks for that matter, no proper filter vacuums (only cheap shop vacs), no ear protection, none of that was offered to us.
I quit that shop for different reasons and am now at a much larger company. This company has continually failed the osha inspection in the shop. When I walk in in the morning I can taste the dust In the air. I work as an installer again and still don't have proper respirators, or vacuums.
I have not been checked out yet as I have no insurance but often times when I have to make modifications to pieces my chest hurts/burns. I also frequently feel somewhat short of breath. As a 24 year old, I don't like the idea of having silicosis.
I have many videos of me being covered head to toe in dust from having to make modifications to a piece of stone. I have videos from even after our meeting saying we technically aren't allowed by osha to cut stone in a person's home and need water to cut outside.
TLDR; I was improperly educated and protected from years of silica dust exposure Is there anything I can do?