Health Concerns and Issues

Like with any other nuisance dust, proper care should be used when using this product to avoid creating any more dust than necessary, and to protect the respiratory system from becoming overloaded with too much dust. The use of dust masks (disposal or permanent) is recommended.

Fortunately studies of miners and processing plant employees with long term exposure have shown no diminution of respiratory function and no health problems visible from an analysis and comparison of worker X-rays.

Like any other product mined from surface mines, however, perlite can have contamination from crystalline silica. To date, levels above the 1/10 of 1% trigger point requiring more stringent labeling have not been identified in expanded finished perlite products; nevertheless, workers still should avoid creating excessive dust and wear proper respiratory protection.

Please refer to our MSDS on Perlite for further information.

Respiratory Protection: Provide general ventilation and local exhaust ventilation to meet TLV requirements and to control dusting conditions. Avoid creating dust. Wear a NIOSH/MSHA approved dust respirator or dust mask in poorly ventilated areas if TLV is exceeded, and/or when dusty conditions exist.

Protective Equipment: Usually not necessary when TLV levels are met, but the use of a dust mask to avoid inhalation of nuisance dust is recommended. Gloves or protective clothing usually are not necessary. Wear eye protection (safety goggles) when necessary to avoid particulate irritation of the eye.