FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patty Gibbs
Patty Gibbs & Company
651-653-7302
Nilfisk Provides Silica Dust Control with the Industry’s Only Integrated Floor-to-Ceiling Solution
BROOKLYN PARK,
Minnesota—April 6, 2017— The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has updated
its respirable crystalline silica exposure standards in an effort to protect workers from a range of
life-threatening and deadly diseases. By September 23,
2017, more than 600,000 construction-related workplaces must comply with those
new standards, and Nilfisk, one of the world’s
leading manufacturers of professional cleaning equipment, offers the only
integrated floor-to-ceiling silica dust control solution to assist them with
compliance.
According
to OSHA’s new standards, which reduce the silica dust permissible exposure
limit (PEL) to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air, averaged over an
eight-hour shift, employers must use a number of engineering controls and work
practices to limit that exposure.
With
its floor-to-ceiling solution, Nilfisk can help companies address controls and
practices specifically related to dust containment systems, wet methods, and
high-efficient particulate air (HEPA) filtrated equipment and vacuums, and help
meet OSHA’s requirement that all construction employers “restrict housekeeping
practices that expose workers to silica where feasible alternatives are
available.”
“Within
its standards, OSHA clearly states that housekeeping practices play a critical
role in reducing silica dust exposure,” said Andrew Ray, president, Americas,
with Nilfisk. “With our integrated solution of Advance and Nilfisk brand
products that includes industrial scrubbers, sweepers and vacuums that clean
floors, walls and ceilings, Nilfisk is the only cleaning equipment manufacturer
poised to most effectively assist construction companies with their OSHA
compliance and positively impact worker safety as it relates to silica dust
exposure.”
More
specifically, Nilfisk’s robust offering of industrial cleaning equipment
includes Advance brand scrubbers, sweepers, and combination scrubber/sweepers
that allow for wet-method cleaning and that offer optional DustGuard or
DustClear™ dust control technologies; and HEPA-filtered vacuums that can be
connected to power tools including sanders and grinders to capture dust
particles as small as 0.3 microns.
Exposure
to silica dust, which in the construction field can occur when workers perform
common tasks involving top soil, brick, concrete, stone, asphalt, and drywall,
can cause lung cancer, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and
kidney disease. OSHA estimates that about two million construction workers are
currently exposed to respirable crystalline silica, 840,000 of them at levels that
exceed the new permissible exposure limit.
More
information about Nilfisk’s integrated floor-to-ceiling silica dust control
solution can be found at www.ftcclean.com.
About Nilfisk
Nilfisk is a leading global player in the
professional cleaning industry. Resting on more than 110 years of innovation
history, Nilfisk is committed to providing high quality products and reliable
solutions that clear the way for a safer, cleaner and more productive everyday
for millions of businesses and homes around the world. Nilfisk has sales
companies in 45 countries and its products and services are used in more than
100 countries. Learn more at www.nilfisk.com.
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