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Safety shouldn’t be overlooked when working with concrete. Installers should adhere to OSHA guidelines concerning placement and also wear the proper personal protection equipment (PPE). These can include gloves, eye wear, hardhat, dust masks, boots and long-sleeved shirts and pants.
Concrete workers should be aware of the health risks associated with asbestos which may be present in concrete placed prior to and during the 1970s.
While new regulations, and the associated steps required for compliance, can create stress across the industry, these rules make sense. According to OSHA, workers who inhale small crystalline silica particles are at increased risk of suffering serious lung and kidney issues.
How often in the course of your day do you think about breathing? Unless you’re one of those unfortunate people who suffers from a respiratory illness, it’s unlikely you give it any thought at all. The fact that breathing is a somewhat involuntary action is probably why we so easily take it for granted.
Chris Sullivan discusses the new OSHA respirable crystalline silica regulation and how it may not impact all decorative concrete products.
Polished concrete as a finish is reliant on the concrete substrate to be in good shape to provide the end user with a beautiful and durable finish. Owners don’t like blemishes and amazingly the worst issues seem to happen in the main entrance ways. Here, I’ll address the most common […]
Masks, gloves and goggles protect your body from the damaging effects of concrete dust and chemicals used in beautifying concrete.
There is not a comforting way to say the word “cancer.” Even in this day of strong chances of recovery and survival, it is a word that gets our attention every time. Although the products we use turn normal concrete into extraordinary works of art, some of those products are carcinogenic. Are you taking the proper measures to be safe?
First and foremost, using ultraviolet curing equipment for concrete coatings requires diligent safety practices. Compare it to "a welder’s flash on steroids." Sunglasses and long-sleeved shirts are not enough. UV emitted by curing equipment can be many times brighter than the sun.
This is not intended to be comprehensive or complet list, but here are a few things to think about when you are beginning any project that involves solvents.
There are clients who will say, “I’d just die for a floor like that!” But, of course, there’s no decorative concrete worth dying for. So, do as I say, and not as I did. Please, be careful out there.
