Companies engaged in the quest of shale gas in Europe already face the spectre of ultra-tight EU regulation and orchestrated local opposition in many locations.
However, in the light of a hazard alert just issued in the US regarding the need to protect workers from silica exposure, it is possible that European shale programme exploration will as a result get even tougher.
The warning issued by the US Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), covers the fracturing operations that are now so commonplace in North America where production of shale gas is rocketing.
The hazard alert follows a co-operative study by NIOSH and industry partners that identified overexposure to silica as a health hazard. While it appears not to be a problem in Europe at this time . . . there is no commercial shale gas production . . . should the industry take off, then such hazards will need to be accounted for, at least in the drier parts of Europe where dusts are commonplace.
Respirable silica is a hazard common to many industries and industrial processes. Because large quantities of silica sand are used during hydraulic fracturing in the US, NIOSH began a co-operative effort in January 2010 to collect data regarding silica exposure at fracking operations.
It worked in co-operation with oil and gas industry partners to sample the air at 11 sites in five states where fracking was taking place and identified seven primary sources of silica dust exposure during these operations and found that workers downwind of sand mover and blender operations, especially during hot loading, had the highest silica exposures.
Workers who breathe silica day after day are at greater risk of developing silicosis, a lung-related disease. Silica also can cause lung cancer and has been linked to other diseases, such as tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and kidney and autoimmune disease.
The alert states that employers must ensure that workers are properly protected from overexposure to silica. It describes how a combination of engineering controls, work practices, protective equipment and product substitution, where feasible, along with worker training, can protect workers who are exposed to silica.
Engineering controls and work practices provide the best protection for workers. According to the alert, transporting, moving, and refilling silica sand into and through sand movers, and along transfer belts and into blender hoppers, can release dust into the air containing up to 99% silica that workers breathe.
The alerts appear to have been welcomed by the relevant trade associations in North America.
The question now is whether the EU will pre-empt the issue in Europe.