Dive summary:

• The Occupational Safety and health Administration (OSHA) estimates that if rules it has proposed for limiting worker exposure to silica dust are implemented, there would be 700 fewer deaths each year and 1,600 fewer new cases of silicosis.
• The agency officially proposed the rules Friday and will accept public comments on them before holding public hearings on the package, which has a set of standards for the construction industry and one for general industry and one for maritime operations.
• OSHA, which has a Web page devoted to making the silica rules and linked to scientific information, said the new standards are designed to modernize current rules that set permissible exposure limits based on what was understood 40 years ago.

From the article:

Exposure to airborne silica dust occurs in operations involving cutting, sawing, drilling and crushing of concrete, brick, block and other stone products and in operations using sand products, such as in glass manufacturing, foundries and sand blasting. ...