SAFETY DATA
INFORMATION

Some Jeffrey Court items may be labeled with a warning label like the one below. This warning, required by California Proposition 65 (Prop 65), is meant to notify California residents of potential exposure to certain chemicals.  

What is this warning?

California’s Proposition 65 (Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986) alerts California consumers with a special warning for products that contain chemicals identified by the state of California as potentially causing cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm if a consumer is exposed to such chemicals above a certain threshold levels.

Proposition 65 does not ban the sale of products containing these chemicals, but instead informs the consumer with a warning on the product, product packaging or product literature. Please note that a Prop 65 warning does not mean a product is in violation of any product safety standards or requirements. In fact, the California government has clarified that a Prop 65 warning “is not the same as a regulatory decision that a product is ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe.’” Many of these chemicals have been used in everyday products for years without documented harm.  

Exposures to Crystalline Silica during installation of Ceramic Tiles

An independent study by Environmental Health & Engineering, Inc. (EH&E), commissioned by the Tile Council of North America (TCNA), in partnership with different national and international trade organization, found that the potential excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) associated with tile-related crystalline silica exposure for the average installers who installs tile is 1.3 in 10 million (1.3 x 10-7), or 0.013 per 100,000, a value that is 75-times below the threshold of 1 in 100,000 established under the Prop 65 regulation, when cutting tile using the traditional, wet saw method.

Emissions from cutting tile by the score and snap method were 50 times lower than found from wet-cutting, and over 1000 times lower than from motorized dry cutting.

In conjunction with a prior OSHA determination that wet-cutting tile with a stationary masonry saw requires no personal protective equipment (PPE). The same is true when scoring and snapping tile.  

Safety Equipment

Although, as demonstrated in the EH&E/TCNA study, cutting ceramic tile does not pose significant risk to exposure to any of the chemical elements listed under Prop 65, we recommend that you follow all safety measures recommended by the manufacture of the tool you use. These measures may include:

• Protective goggles
• Masks; and
• Gloves