Crystalline silica is an important industrial material found abundantly in the earth’s crust. It is a mineral that occurs in several forms. Quartz, the most common form, is a component of sand, stone, rock, concrete, brick, block, and mortar.

Employees in facilities that recycle scrap are exposed to a range of safety hazards associated with material handling methods, hazards associated with the metals themselves (as dust or fumes), and with the hazardous substances used to process or recover these metals.