TECH TALK –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– H.B. Fuller Construction Products introduces TEC® Ultimate 6 Plus Polymer Modified Mortar specifi- cally designed for installing gauged porcelain tile panels/slabs and large heavy tiles (LHT). TEC has devel- oped Ultimate 6 Plus Mortar to meet the particu- lar challenges of installing excep- tionally large thin tile panels and LHT on floors or walls. The new mortar offers extreme versatility. TEC Ultimate 6 Plus Mortar has a unique set of features that allows grouting in six hours – even when installed over the most impervi- ous substrates such as uncoupling membranes. Easy-to-use Ultimate 6 Plus Mortar has an extended pot life of two to three hours and open time of 50-60 minutes, allowing installers much-needed time to get full coverage and make adjust- ments. While this TEC mortar is formulated for gauged porcelain tile panels/slabs and LHT, it also works well on traditional tile for both floor and wall applications. TEC Ultimate 6 Plus Mortar exceeds ANSI A118.4TE and A118.11. www.tecspecialty.com. cosis was listed as the underlying or a contributing cause of death on over 1,100 death certificates in the United States, but most deaths from silicosis go undiagnosed and unreported. Also, those numbers of silicosis deaths do not include additional deaths from other silica- related diseases such as COPD, lung cancer and kidney disease... In fact, more workers died from silicosis in 2014 than in fires, or from being caught in or crushed by collapsing materials, such as in trench and structure collapses.” OSHA PEL: 50 mg/m over eight hours The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) issued a standard in 2017 that spells out requirements to comply to the regulation and that limits the acceptable amount of respi- rable crystalline silica dust to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air over an eight-hour time weight- ed average. This is known as the Permissible Exposure Limit or PEL. It can be calculated by the formula: Air X Dust X Time = PEL. The PEL is the upper, maximum allowable amount of what a per- son should breathe in. But OSHA requires a silica plan to start being implemented when levels reach 25 micrograms per cubic meter to ensure that maximum levels of exposure do not exceed 50 micro- grams per cubic meter of air over an eight-hour time period. 64 TileLetter | June 2018