Safety Practices to Follow During Concrete Grinding Jobs

Exposure to concrete dust can put your construction workers at high risk of catching a respiratory disease known as silicosis. This is because concrete dust contains airborne crystalline silica, which causes the disease when inhaled. When using concrete grinders, you must make sure to control the amount of concrete dust generated. Here are a number of practices you can adopt to ensure equipment operators breathe safe and stay healthy.

Grind with water 

Grinding concrete dry generates a lot of dust. A better approach to help suppress the amount of dust released into the air would be wet grinding. Wet grinding is a technique that generally involves grinding with water to reduce the dust. Dust control measures can include hosing down the dust with a water hose before it finds its way all over the work site.

Use of dust filters

Specialty dust filters can be integrated into your concrete grinders the same way air cleaners can be incorporated directly into air conditioners. Like air cleaners, the purpose of these dust filters is to trap silica-bearing concrete dust before it can find its way into the surrounding areas. Currently, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are being manufactured to address the specific health and safety concerns of different construction projects. Therefore, you can be sure to find a dust filter that is specially designed to remove silica particulates from the air.

Exhaust ventilation

Another way to mitigate the volume of silica-containing dust produced during concrete grinding applications is by using engineering controls like exhaust ventilation. Here, you will have to equip your machinery with local dust collectors. The dust is collected in a separate unit (in a bag or in a tank) to facilitate easy disposal. Choose dust collection units that have sufficient capacity so you do not have to empty them very frequently.

Ask your workers to follow safety operation protocols

Constantly remind your workers through training to observe the set safety protocols when operating concrete grinders. When equipment is used the right way, there is greater efficiency of operations, which can, in turn, keep the amount of dust produced at a minimum level.

Make sure all equipment operators are well-aware of the dangers of silica so they can use the protective equipment provided to them correctly. Simple safety practices such as wearing respiratory masks during the job will help protect workers against the health risks (like silicosis) associated with concrete dust.