Tile and Granite Company Faces $261,000 Fine for Safety Violations

The Washington state Department of Labor and Industries fined a tile and granite company $261,000 for failing to protect workers from exposure to silica dust and other hazards typically associated with grinding stone slabs. L&I said its investigators found Wall to Wall Tile & Stone in Vancouver exposed workers to 3.4 times the permissible level of silica dust. Breathing in silica dust can cause lung disease, lung cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis and other airway diseases. L&I said the company was cited for similar violations in November 2014, so the latest inspection resulted i...