Although U.S. OSHA updated its occupational silica standard in 2016 for the first time in 45 years, relatively few countries have followed suit. Aside from a handful of European countries, some Canadian Provinces and Mexico, most other countries do not have as stringent of a standard as the current U.S. Permissible Exposure Limit of 0.05 mg/. In fact, most low and middle-income countries have no regulatory limits for respirable crystalline silica in the workplace.
Globally, occupational exposure standards for silica vary considerably and few have been updated to account for the current scientific evidence linking exposures to disease. In addition, to the risks for silicosis, lung cancer and autoimmune diseases (e.g. Scleroderma), silica dust exposures are significant risk factor for Tuberculosis (TB). Given the much greater prevalence of TB in low and middle-income countries, there is a much greater health risk that is under appreciated and not being addressed by current regulatory mechanisms. The United Nations General Assembly recently acknowledged this need at its first ever meeting on TB declaring that governments should commit to “preventing TB by implementing primary prevention in high-risk occupations by reducing silica dust exposures in mining, construction and other dusty workplaces.”