Exposure to respirable dust among workers fabricating aluminium trihydroxide-containing synthetic countertops
Vinnikov D. Blanc P.D. Raushanova A. Beisbekova A. Abraham J.L. Zlobina Y.
December 2021Nature Research
Scientific Reports
2021#11Issue 1
The aim of this study is to characterize personal exposure of workers to respirable particulate matter (PM) generated in cutting and other fabrication activities when fabricating acryl polymer/aluminium trihydroxide synthetic countertops. We collected 29 personal full-day samples of respirable PM from three workers in a small private workshop. We tested differences between- and within-worker variances of mass concentrations using the Kruskall-Wallis test. We used segmented regression to test the means and medians 15-min interval concentrations changes over time and to identify a breakpoint. Respirable PM concentrations ranged nearly 100-fold, from 0.280 to 25.4 mg/m3 with a median of 2.0 mg/m3 (1-min concentrations from 13,920 data points). There were no statistical difference in daily median or geometric mean concentrations among workers, whereas the concentrations were significantly higher on days with three versus two workers present. The 15-min median concentrations (n = 974 measures) increased until 2.35 h (beta 0.177; p < 0.05), representing a 0.70 mg increase in exposure per hour. This was followed by a plateau in concentrations. The high levels of respirable PM we observed among workers fabricating aluminium trihydroxide-containing synthetic countertops highlight an unmet early prevention need.
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Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, 71 al-Farabi avenue, Almaty, 050040, Kazakhstan
Peoples’ Friendship, University of Russia, RUDN University), Moscow, Russian Federation
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
SUNY Upstate School of Medicine, Syracuse, NY, United States
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
Peoples’ Friendship
University of California San Francisco
Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University
SUNY Upstate School of Medicine
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