Best Practice Engineering Control Guidelines to Control Worker Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica during Asphalt Pavement Milling

This document represents more than ten years of collaborative research by labor, industry, and government to reduce respirable crystalline silica exposure during asphalt pavement milling in highway construction. The collaborative research began when the Silica/Asphalt Milling Machine Partnership was formed at the 2003 National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) Annual Meeting, and studies on milling machine dust controls began later that year. The Silica/Asphalt Milling Machine Partnership is coordinated by NAPA and includes all U.S. and foreign manufacturers of heavy construction equipment that currently sell pavement-milling machines to the U.S. market. In addition to NAPA and the equipment manufacturers, the Silica/Asphalt Milling Machine Partnership includes numerous paving contractors, the International Union of Operating Engineers, the Laborers International Union of North America, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, and government organizations including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Federal Highway Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Appendix D: Use of the Spreadsheet

Best Practice Engineering Control Guidelines to Control Worker Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica during Asphalt Pavement Milling [PDF - 3 MB]