Atlas Copco Power Technique North America has a new retrofit dust-suppression spray kit for handheld tools. The kit can be attached to an Atlas Copco handheld breaker, rivet buster, or chipping hammer to help with compliance regarding requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) respirable crystalline silica rule that went into effect September 2017. The dust-suppression spray kit uses a nozzle that covers an 80-degree cone around the tool, dispensing six gallons of water per hour at 40 psi. The kit connects to a garden hose.
Use of the kit minimizes workers’ exposure to harmful silica dust through a continuous spray of water at the point of impact, says Atlas Copco, flushing dust before it becomes airborne. When used with Atlas Copco’s handheld breakers, rivet busters, and chipping hammers, the retrofit dust suppression spray kit complies with Table 1 of the OSHA engineering and work practice control methods. In conjunction with the kit, required respiratory and minimum assigned protection factors (APF) apply:
- Outdoors, four hours or less: no protection needed
- Outdoors, four hours or more: APF 10 dust mask or elastomeric that needs to be fit-tested
- Indoors, four hours or less: APF 10 dust mask or elastomeric that needs to be fit-tested
- Indoors, four hours or more: APF 10 dust mask or elastomeric that needs to be fit tested
