INTERVIEW
Crystalline silica is present everywhere on the surface of the Earth: in sand, quartz, granite, rocks ... It is also particularly used in industry (glassware, foundry, chemistry ...) and building. Classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1997, it is now the subject of an alert from the National Agency for Food Safety, Environment and Labor (ANSES ), which published Wednesday a study on this subject.
365,000 employees concerned
"We have estimated that more than 365,000 workers in France would be exposed to crystalline silica dust, one of the five carcinogenic factors to which French workers are most exposed, with an estimated 23,000 to 30,000 workers would be exposed beyond the regulatory value (of 0.1 mg / m³) in France, "says Guillaume Boulanger, deputy head of air risk assessment unit at ANSES, at the micro Matthieu Belliard, Wednesday, on Europe 1. "Crystalline silica has been used for many, many years, producing a certain number of pathologies, such as silicosis, but also autoimmune pathologies (...). Today, French workers remain largely exposed to crystalline silica at very high levels. "
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How to protect exposed workers?
ANSES calls for better protection of exposed employees. For this, Guillaume Boulanger lists several possible solutions, starting with the substitution, if possible, of crystalline silica in the sectors where it is used. "We can also put vacuum heads at the workstation", to contain the dust, or "work wet, that is to say that disperse water droplets in the atmosphere to bring down the dust, "suggests the ANSES expert. Where appropriate, companies must also provide exposed employees with appropriate respiratory masks.