Silica dust statistics for cutting and drilling concrete, stone and tile

01What are the key findings?

• Silicosis was recorded on US death certificates for 80 deaths in 2024, the lowest yearly count in the 2018 to 2024 CDC WONDER series, which totals 620 deaths.
• OSHA's 2016 silica rule estimated that about 2.3 million US workers are exposed to respirable crystalline silica, and projected 642 deaths prevented a year once the rule was fully in effect.
• California's silicosis surveillance recorded 296 confirmed silicosis cases from 2019 to 2024, 82% of them linked to engineered stone (American Journal of Public Health, 2025).
• Engineered stone workers in California with confirmed silicosis were diagnosed young (46 years median age at diagnosis), and at least 15 deaths from silicosis were recorded among them by the end of 2024.
• The US limit for respirable crystalline silica is 50 µg/m³ over an 8-hour day (OSHA, 2016); the EU and Great Britain both use 0.1 mg/m³ (8-hour, respirable fraction), which is double the US figure.
• In a 2019 University of California, Berkeley test-bench study of rotary hammer drilling in concrete, a dust shroud or a hollow vacuum bit cut respirable quartz by 98.7% or more.
• Even with OSHA Table 1 controls in use, 29.4% of workers sampled in a 2020 Colorado field study would have exceeded the US limit over an 8-hour shift (Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 2023).
• A dull masonry bit raised respirable silica in a 2017 hammer-drill bench study, with means of 0.41 to 0.89 mg/m³ as bits went from sharp to dull.

02How many US workers are exposed to silica dust?

About 2.3 million US workers are exposed to respirable crystalline silica, according to the estimate OSHA published with its 2016 final rule, including 2.0 million construction workers. AccessoryFit could not find a newer national count in a primary federal document.

Silica is part of concrete, block, brick, stone, tile and fiber cement, so any bit, blade or wheel that removes material makes the dust: drilling anchor holes, cutting pavers, chasing walls, grinding floors. Accessory and tool choice cannot remove the silica, but it changes how much reaches the air. OSHA also projected 642 deaths prevented a year once the rule was fully in effect; both figures are 2016 projections, not counts.

03How many people die from silicosis in the US each year?

US death certificates listed silicosis (ICD-10 code J62) as an underlying or contributing cause for 80 deaths in 2024, according to CDC WONDER multiple cause of death data. That makes 620 deaths from 2018 to 2024. Yearly counts are below; 2021 was the highest year in the series, at 101 deaths, and 2024 the lowest.

04Are silicosis deaths falling?

Not clearly. The yearly counts move within a narrow band, and seven years of counts this small cannot show a trend. Death certificate counts are best read as a floor: they include only deaths where a certifier recorded silicosis, and they leave out other diseases linked to silica. The California data below also show workers being diagnosed far younger than the national mortality figures suggest.

05What is the engineered stone silicosis outbreak?

California's silicosis surveillance recorded 296 confirmed silicosis cases from 2019 to 2024. Of those, 243 engineered stone silicosis cases (82%) were among workers who cut, ground and polished engineered (quartz) stone countertops, according to a 2025 American Journal of Public Health report by California Department of Public Health and NIOSH-affiliated authors. Engineered stone can contain more than 90% crystalline silica, well above most natural stone.

• Engineered stone cases: 46 years median age at diagnosis, much younger than other silicosis cases in the same data.
• At least 15 deaths among engineered stone cases by the end of 2024; the report also records 60 referrals for lung transplant (25%) and 30 lung transplants performed.
• 98% of engineered stone cases were Latino workers.

These are confirmed cases in one state from one surveillance report, not US rates. News reports give higher running counts for 2025, but AccessoryFit could not confirm them against a state health department page, so they are not used. The blade does not change the material: any diamond blade on quartz stone makes high-silica dust, and what changes exposure is water on tools built for it and extraction on tools that are not.

06What are the legal limits for silica dust in the US, California, EU and UK?

The federal US limit is 50 µg/m³ of respirable crystalline silica averaged over an 8-hour day, set by OSHA in 2016 for all industries, and California uses the same value. The EU's binding limit and Great Britain's workplace exposure limit are both 0.1 mg/m³ (8-hour TWA), double the US figure.

07What does California require for engineered stone?

More than a number. Under Cal/OSHA's updated silica rule (Title 8 section 5204, amended in December 2023 and February 2025), cutting, grinding or polishing artificial stone with more than 0.1% crystalline silica by weight, or high-silica natural stone, is a high-exposure trigger task: wet methods and high-level respirators are required whatever the measured exposure.

The EU limit comes from Directive (EU) 2017/2398, which also added work generating respirable crystalline silica dust to the carcinogens directive. Great Britain's limit is in HSE's EH40/2005 (fourth edition, 2020).

08How much do dust controls reduce silica exposure when drilling and cutting?

On-tool extraction can remove almost all measured silica when drilling concrete: in a 2019 UC Berkeley test-bench study, a shroud or a hollow vacuum bit on a rotary hammer cut respirable quartz by 98.7% or more. Saw cutting is harder to control.

09Do contractors actually use dust capture on rotary hammers?

Far more often than before the OSHA rule took effect. Virginia Tech surveys of masonry and concrete contractors, published in 2025, found reported use of dust capture on impact and rotary hammer drills reached an average of 4.03 out of 5 in 2021 (the top of the scale means always), up from 1.71 out of 5 in 2014. The surveys show the change coincided with the rule; they do not isolate it as the cause.

OSHA's Table 1 drilling entry, unchanged in the current eCFR text since 2016, calls for a shroud or cowling with a dust collector giving the tool maker's recommended airflow, a filter of at least 99% efficiency, and holes cleaned with a HEPA vacuum. In practice that means a shroud or a hollow vacuum bit; the guide to rotary hammer bit shanks shows which system your hammer takes before you buy either.

10Why do workers still exceed the silica limit with controls in place?

Because some tasks make more dust than the controls catch. A 2023 Colorado State University and Montana Technological University study of 51 silica samples, taken on job sites in 2020, found that 29.4% of workers using OSHA Table 1 controls would exceed the 50 µg/m³ limit over an 8-hour shift. Grinding was worst, with 80% of grinding samples over the limit even with water or a shroud and HEPA vacuum; core drilling gave the lowest average.

A common belief is that following Table 1 makes a job safe. Table 1 is a compliance route that spares employers from measuring exposure, not a guarantee that each worker stays under the limit. The Purdue cut-off saw study points the same way: water and a vacuum shroud both cut dust sharply, yet operators were still projected to pass the ACGIH quartz limit in under an hour.

11Does a dull masonry bit make more silica dust?

Yes: in a 2017 Annals of Work Exposures and Health bench study of hammer drilling in concrete, mean respirable silica ran from 0.41 to 0.89 mg/m³ as bits went from sharp to dull, all far above the 50 µg/m³ US limit. The dull bit was also louder, at up to 114.4 dBA.

The researchers recommend a bit replacement program rather than pushing harder on a worn bit, which makes replacement a dust question when choosing masonry drill bits for concrete. Other tools' noise figures are in the power tool noise data.

12Does blade tooth count change dust when cutting fiber cement?

Yes, modestly: in NIOSH's 2019 laboratory test of 22 fiber-cement saw blades, uncontrolled respirable dust rose with tooth count, reaching 0.48 g per metre of cut for 8-tooth blades, and a continuous-rim diamond blade released the most of all. Fiber-cement products can contain up to 50% crystalline silica, according to NIOSH.

13Which blade and saw setup does OSHA accept for fiber cement?

Saws cutting fiber cement normally use PCD blades made for the material, with 4 to 8 teeth, and the NIOSH data favour the lower end of that range. OSHA Table 1 lets a handheld saw cut fiber-cement board without a respirator only when its conditions are met (8 in or less, outdoors, dust collector), meaning a blade of that size or smaller, used outdoors, with a commercial dust collection system. NIOSH recommends a shop vacuum of about 30 CFM or higher.

James Hardie says never to cut its board with a power saw indoors, and both James Hardie and NIOSH point to purpose-made PCD blades rather than carbide framing blades. The guide on choosing a circular saw blade covers tooth count more widely.

14Can you cut tile or concrete wet with an angle grinder?

Not with an electric angle grinder: grinder manuals forbid accessories that need water or other liquid coolant because of the risk of electric shock. Many diamond blades are rated wet or dry, but the tool's manual decides, so on an electric grinder the cut is made dry with a shroud and extractor.

Wet cutting, which the Purdue study credits with a 78% cut in respirable dust, belongs on tools built for water, such as wet tile saws and water-fed cut-off saws. The guide to segmented and turbo diamond blades covers dry cuts in concrete and pavers, the angle grinder disc sizes page covers which diameters a grinder and guard accept, and the drill bits for tile guide covers drilling tile.

15Which accessory choices reduce silica dust the most?

The sourced data point to five choices.

• Extraction at the bit: a shroud or hollow vacuum bit gave the largest measured reduction here.
• A sharp bit: worn masonry bits raised silica and noise in bench tests.
• Water only where the tool allows it: wet tile saws and water-fed cut-off saws, never electric grinders.
• The right blade: for fiber cement, a purpose-made PCD blade with few teeth released the least dust in the NIOSH test.
• A working collector: the filter and airflow named in OSHA Table 1 only help if hoses, filters and shrouds are kept clear.

None makes a task dust-free; grinding in particular can exceed limits with controls fitted.

16When do these figures not apply?

• The OSHA figures are 2016 regulatory estimates covering workers; no dataset measures DIY exposure.
• Death counts include only certificates naming silicosis, so undercounting is likely.
• The California figures are confirmed cases in one state to the end of 2024, not national rates.
• Dust-reduction figures come from single studies, several on test benches or in laboratories; quote each with its study and year.
• The 2023 field study rests on 51 samples from Colorado in 2020; it shows controls can fall short, not how often nationally.

17How was this data produced?

Deaths. AccessoryFit queried CDC WONDER Multiple Cause of Death data (2018 to 2024) on 22 October 2026 for deaths with ICD-10 code J62 (pneumoconiosis due to dust containing silica) anywhere on the death certificate, by year. These are counts, not age-adjusted rates.

California. Figures come from the results and Table 1 of Flattery and colleagues, "Silicosis Surveillance in California 2019-2024: Tracking an Epidemic" (American Journal of Public Health, 2025), which counts confirmed cases among reports received by the state.

Limits. OSHA's 2016 final rule and the current eCFR text of 29 CFR 1926.1153; Cal/OSHA's silica FAQ; Directive (EU) 2017/2398; HSE EH40/2005 (2020 edition).

Dust controls. Reductions are as published, except the UC Berkeley figure, calculated from the study's uncontrolled level and detection limit, so the true reduction may be larger. Fiber-cement values are from Table 4 of NIOSH report EPHB 19-114. AccessoryFit did not test, sample or measure any tool or accessory.

18How should you cite this data?

Suggested citation: AccessoryFit, "Silica dust statistics for cutting and drilling concrete, stone and tile", updated 22 October 2026, https://accessoryfit.com/research/silica-dust-statistics/

The tables and summaries on this page are free to reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY 4.0) with a link to this page. When quoting a single-study figure, keep the study, place and year with it; the underlying data belong to the agencies and authors listed in the references. More datasets are in the power tool research and data section.

19Questions readers ask