the workplace exposure standard (WES) for silica has been reduced to 0.05mg/m 3 (eight-hour time-weighted average).Action taken on uncontrolled cutting, grinding or drilling of silica products or materials Aligned to SafeWork NSW’s Roadmap for NSW 2022, this project aims to achieve a 30% reduction in serious injuries and illnesses by 2022, in relation to exposure to hazardous chemcials. Key components of the project are awareness and education, inspector visits and compliance, legislation and research into best practice approaches to harm prevention. Respirable Crystalline Silica (silica) is identified as one of the Top 2 Chemicals which pose the greatest risk to workers in NSW (the other being Formaldehyde). Reducing exposure to hazardous chemicals and materials Project 2017-2022 Launch of the NSW Dust Strategy 2020-2022.įrom 1 July 2020, all medical practitioners must notify NSW Health when they diagnose a case of silicosis in NSW. Delivery of the Case Finding Study Report - Respirable crystalline silica exposure in the NSW manufactured stone industry (2017-2020) (PDF, 1.66 MB).Delivery of the first NSW Dust Disease Register Annual Report 2020-21 (PDF, 1.42 MB).Video safety alert – Crystalline Silica Dust Safety.In language information on Silica is available at Translated Resources.NSW version of national Clean Air, Clear Lungs campaign delivered during September, October and November 2021.Video Safety Alerts on the safe cutting of bricks and concrete that contain silica using on-tool dust capture and water, including translated versions in Chinese Mandarin and Arabic.Research and successful testing of a Real-time silica dust detection device has been completed.Useful resources including the new dust safety poster, toolbox talks, safety checklists and fact sheets are available on the building and construction industry web page. Intensive construction visits from January-March 2022.Second round of visits to engineered stone businesses nearing completion.Adoption of national model Code of Practice – managing exposure to respirable crystalline silica from engineered stone in the workplace in February 2022.I guess there's a reason why electronics manufacturers all use silica gel. In contrast, the other alternatives are slow to absorb, quickly reach saturation, aren't reusable, and can be extremely expensive (eg, molecular sieve). Now silica gel is by far the most convenient, you probably have some free samples that you received with your s cheap to buy, reusable, and you don't require much of it. In fact, it is a good means that you can heat it up in the oven and reuse it, whereas the molecular sieve has trapped the water permanently. However, if your intention is to use the gel to prevent condensation when moving from cold outdoor temperatures to warm indoor temperatures, this does not matter at all. Silica gel doesn't do very well above 100 degrees F. However, from fig 1 we see that CaO is extremely slow to absorb.įrom fig 3 we see the real advantage of Molecular sieves are that they continue to hold their moisture as the temperature heats up, meaning that they trap/hold onto what water they absorb more reliably. Not only that, but from fig 1 it is more than twice as slow as silica gel to absorb that water.īelow 40% RH, silica gel does not do so well.better choices for this lower humidity point are CaO and molecular sieve (synthetic zeolite). In other words, you need a ton of Drierite to absorb the same amount as Silica gel. From figure 2 we see that most forms of dessicants become saturated and their performance asymptotes as RH is increased.except for silica gel, the one exception that continues to absorb more and more the closer you get to the dew point.īy the time condensation occurs, silica gel will have absorbed 35% water by its mass, whereas CaSO4 ( Drierite) will have only absorbed 10% by mass. For more extended time periods, silica gel is the clear winner.Ĭondensation occurs at 100% RH, this is what can damage electronics so this is what should be avoided. I would ignore the table "Properties of Absorbents" as they seem to be biased towards the conditions which favor molecular sieves.Ĭonclusions: Silica gel, clay and molecular sieve can all absorb the same amount of water within the first 2 hours at 75% RH. See here for a technical analysis of various desiccants:
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