{"id":572419,"date":"2026-03-31T07:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/572419\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T07:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:34:18","slug":"canadian-construction-safety-group-launches-silica-awareness-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/572419\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian construction safety group launches silica awareness campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nova Scotia, Canada \u2014 Construction Safety Nova Scotia is using humor to address a serious workplace safety topic: the dangers of respirable crystalline silica.<\/p>\n<p>The Canadian safety group has launched an awareness campaign that features <a href=\"https:\/\/lungsquatters.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Lungsquatters<\/a>, dangerous particles (played by actors in costume) that move into the lungs of an unsuspecting worker who has been exposed to the invisible dust.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lungsquatters.ca\/silica-basics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Silica dust<\/a>, which is common in materials such as concrete, stone, brick, sand and tile, can cause long-lasting harm. The silica particles can lodge deep inside the lungs and lead to permanent diseases, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com\/19204-preventing-silicosis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">silicosis<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com\/most-people-at-risk-for-lung-cancer-arent-being-screened-study-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">lung cancer<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com\/study-finds-construction-workers-have-a-higher-risk-of-dying-from-copd\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">chronic obstructive pulmonary disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The particles, often too small to see, are released by cutting, crushing, drilling or grinding materials.<\/p>\n<p>When exposure is controlled, according to the agency, silica-related illnesses are preventable. The best way to reduce or eliminate exposure is by understanding where silica is present and applying controls consistently across worksites.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign includes:<\/p>\n<p>A quiz to test silica knowledge.<br \/>\nResources on respirable crystalline silica.<br \/>\nInformation on how employers can manage silica on worksites and understand their responsibilities.<br \/>\nChoices that workers must make to protect themselves from potential lung diseases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nova Scotia, Canada \u2014 Construction Safety Nova Scotia is using humor to address a serious workplace safety topic:&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,5655,220079,220080,84,11557,220081,220082,220083],"class_list":{"0":"post-572419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease","11":"tag-crystalline-silica","12":"tag-crystalline-silica-dust","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-lung-cancer","15":"tag-respirable-crystalline-silica","16":"tag-silica","17":"tag-silicosis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}