Silicosis Provides Base for Major OSHA Case

CHICAGO – A suburban-area fabricator is facing more than $1 million in federal penalties for dozens of violations tied to the failure to protect workers from silica dust.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced Monday that it took action against Florenza Marble & Granite Corp. in Buffalo Grove, Ill.

An OSHA inspection of Florenza this past February found workers being exposed to levels of silica dust up to six times greater than permissible limits.

The inspection came after federal safety inspectors found out that a 31-year-old employee needed a double lung transplant after suffering accelerated silicosis. Inspectors later learned the employee’s 59-year-old father and co-worker is also awaiting a silicosis-related lung transplant.

In addition, a 47-year-old employee received treatment for an unresolved work-related lung disease for more than three years.

When inspectors conducted air sampling at the shop, they found employees working in a cloud of dust, and workers wearing their required respirators improperly. They also found the shop had few controls in place to reduce silica exposure to employees cutting both engineered- and natural-stone countertops for residential and commercial use.

OSHA also alleged that shop owner Brad Karp failed to develop a safety program to protect or monitor the health of his six employees, even though two workers-compensation insurance carriers refused to insure the company in 2022 and 2024 for not providing air sampling or proving it protected its workers.

“To make matters worse, Karp was indifferent to his employees’ suffering and refused to accept any responsibility for protecting them, even after two insurance carriers dropped the company for its egregious defiance of workplace safety standards,” said Bill Donavan, OSHA regional administrator in Chicago.

Among the willful violations OSHA alleged are:

n  Failing to establish a baseline of employees’ medical health to monitor silica exposure;

n  Not performing medical surveillance to monitor exposure;

n  Lacking engineering and administrative controls to reduce silica dust to safe levels;

n  Exposing workers to unsafe levels of silica dust, and;

n  Failing to have a respirator program in place.

In addition, the agency identified 20 serious violations related to its lack of housekeeping, respiratory deficiencies, lack of a silica exposure control plan or hazard communication program, not training employees in the use of compressed air, and allowing its improper use.

Although Florenza was required to address some issues immediately, it may appeal others by Sept. 18.

OSHA officials noted that the two workers suffering from silicosis have limited English proficiency and received no information from their employer about the dangers of silica exposure or training in the use of personal protective equipment and other precautions to protect their health and safety.

OSHA established a revised National Emphasis Program (NEP) in February 2020 to identify and reduce or eliminate worker exposures to respirable crystalline silica in general industry. The NEP targets specific industries expected to have the highest numbers of workers exposed to silica.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the life expectancy for people diagnosed with silicosis is reduced by about 11 years. The chance of surviving 15 years after a lung transplant is less than 11%.