Field tests of a wet abrasive blasting device resulted in significantly lower respirable crystalline silica dust levels than comparable exposure data reported in the literature. The tested device was the water induction nozzle (WIN) (Boride Products), a venturi nozzle in which water is added to the abrasive-air mixture to suppress dust during abrasive blasting. Workers were monitored for silica exposure while performing abrasive blasting on precast concrete, using the WIN and abrasive sand from which the fines had been removed. The monitoring was conducted at Olympian Precast in Redmond, Washington, over a five-day period in September 2006. The geometric mean respirable dust and respirable crystalline silica exposure levels were, respectively, 0.5 and 0.06 mg/m3. These levels are lower by a factor of 7 (for respirable dust) and 4 (for respirable crystalline silica) than exposure data recently reported for construction workers performing dry abrasive blasting. Controlled laboratory testing is needed to quantify the effectiveness of the WIN nozzle in suppressing dust, separate from the dust control provided by the use of abrasive sand with fines removed. Research is also needed to determine recommended water application rates.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.
For more information on CDC's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
CDC.gov Privacy Settings
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.