As the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration continues to review the more than 1,700 public comments it received on its controversial proposal to set tougher limits on construction workers' exposure to airborne silica dust, an industry coalition has released a study contending that OSHA's cost estimates for the standard greatly underestimate the impact on companies.

In September 2013, OSHA proposed to tighten permissible exposure limits for respirable crystalline silica to 50 micograms per cu meter, from 100 mcg per cu m.