A new Code of Practice for the stone benchtop industry commenced on 31 October 2019. The code aims to manage silica dust exposure in the industry by increasing the standard of respiratory protective equipment required by workers, controlling the dust and monitoring the health of workers.
Work in the industry?
To save you some time, we have read through the new Code of Practice (‘COP’) and summarised the main points below:
- Negative and close fitting respirators, whether they are disposable or reusable, are not to be used.
- Respirators MUST be a Powered Air Purifying Respirator (‘PAPR’). No non-powered respirators are acceptable.
- PAPR with a P2 filter is the minimum. The COP mandates that a hood or head top type, full face or half face PAPR with at least a P2 filter must be worn as a minimum by workers carrying out fabricating, processing, cleaning or maintenance work in a fabrication workshop (including labourers and supervisors) and processing tasks during on-site installation.
- Close fitting PAPR’s must be fit tested by Quantitative method. Testing must not be completed using the 3M FT-30 or 3M FT-10 kits.
Need a new respirator to meet the standard?
Check out the 3M Versaflo TRM-106C Ready-to-go Kit including the TR-315A+ PAPR unit, M-106 Headtop, P3 Filter, standard belt, pre-filter, breathing tube, battery pack, battery charger, tote bin and user instructions
Want to learn more about the new standards?
Read the complete Code of Practice here.