Gary Fore, a now retired vice president of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), Lanham, Md., leads a voluntary partnership of asphalt-paving industry organizations that is researching and recommending ways to cut down the amount of silica dust generated by asphalt-milling machines in advance of federal safety and health regulations.
尽管Fore于9月从纳帕退休，但他仍然积极地帮助领导二氧化硅/铣床合作伙伴关系，这是一个制定设计指南的小组，制造商可以用来将更好的尘埃控制措施建立到磨碎沥青路面的机器中。该合作伙伴关系还制定了指南，可以帮助工人在铣削操作中缩小灰尘。
Fore说：“目的是确切确定含二氧化硅的沥青磨砂机产生了多少，并最大程度地减少工人的接触。”
“We’re all focused on the benefits to worker health and on cooperating toward that goal,” says partnership chairman Tony Bodway of paving contractor Payne & Dolan, Waukesha, Wis. He says getting together all the stakeholders as a group to address the issue is key.
In addition to NAPA and Payne & Dolan, the group includes the Association of Equipment Manufacturers; the operating engineers’ union and laborers’ union; the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health; and the milling-machine manufacturers Caterpillar, Roadtec, Terex, Volvo and Wirtgen America. Although not an official member, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration also participates.
Fore在2003年初将小组聚集在一起，当时NIOSH寻求帮助解决二氧化硅问题。由纳帕和Fore领导的类似伙伴关系以前曾在1990年代与NIOSH合作，以减少沥青摊铺机后部呼吸的烟雾工人。
AEM的技术和安全顾问Russ Hutchison说：“加里从一开始就一直在桌子上。”“没有加里，我们就不会在这里取得今天的成功。”运营工程师工会安全与健康总监Emmett Russell说，纳帕的开放性“令人耳目一新”。
该小组的最新现场测试于去年八月进行，评估了16种以上的喷嘴类型，水压，流量和其他铣削机器上的其他方面的组合，因为它们在沥青巷道的数英里处被铺平。这些技术是2008年最后一轮测试后选择的设计的改进。
