A Chicago manufacturer faces a $1 million fine for exposing workers to silica dust

Federal safety inspectors learned that a 31-year-old employee of a Chicago countertop manufacturer needed a double lung transplant after suffering from accelerated silicosis — an incurable lung disease — and the U.S. Department of Labor immediately alerted the company to the potential imminent danger and about a The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection found workers exposed to silica levels up to six times the allowable limits.

When inspectors arrived in February 2024 to conduct air sampling at Florenza Marble & Granite Corp., they found employees working in a dust haze in the workspace and workers improperly using required respirators. They also determined that the company had few controls in place to reduce exposure to silica because employees were cutting natural and engineered stone countertops for residential and commercial projects.

OSHA learned that in addition to the 31-year-old man requiring a double transplant, his 59-year-old father and co-worker are also awaiting a silicosis-related lung transplant, and a 47-year-old employee has been treated. for unresolved work-related lung diseases for more than three years.

A subsequent investigation found that the company and owner Brad Karp failed to develop a safety program to protect or monitor the health of its six employees, even though two workers’ compensation insurance carriers declined to insure the company in 2022 and 2024 for that they did not provide air samples or demonstrate it. protected its workers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the life expectancy of people diagnosed with silicosis is reduced by about 11 years, and the chances of survival 15 years after a lung transplant are less than 11 percent.

OSHA cited Florenza Marble & Granite Corp. for eight flagrant felonies, four willful and 20 serious safety and health violations and proposed penalties of more than $1 million.

The two workers with silicosis have limited knowledge of English and have not received information from their employer about the dangers of exposure to silica or training in the use of personal protective equipment or precautions to protect their safety and health.

Specifically, OSHA found the following willful violations:

• Failure to establish a medical health baseline of employees to monitor silicon exposure.
• Failure to perform medical surveillance to monitor exposure.
• Lack of technical and administrative controls to reduce silica dust to safe levels.
• Exposure of workers to unsafe levels of silica dust.
• Failure to comply with a respiratory protection program.

In addition, the agency identified 20 serious violations related to lack of housekeeping, respiratory impairment, lack of a silicon exposure control plan or hazard communication program, failure to train employees in the use of compressed air and allowing its improper use.

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