Annals of Work Exposures and Health

Our medical research library holds 13 studies published in Annals of Work Exposures and Health (2017–2026). Each entry links to the study's record on PubMed and, where there is one, to the publisher's page and a free full text. 13 have an abstract, the authors' own summary as PubMed records it: open "Abstract" to read it.

About the journal

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Published: 2017 to the present, England
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2398-7316 (electronic), 2398-7308 (print)
• Continues: Annals of Occupational Hygiene
• Its record in the NLM Catalog

2020s

• Advancing occupational exposure models: insights from a case study. R. Franken, I. Ottenbros, C. Ge, et al. 2026;70(3). PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Currently used models in occupational exposure assessment are mostly mechanistic-based and their performance varies. The usage of more advanced modeling approaches such as machine learning (ML) or hybrid modeling approaches such as Bayesian Networks could improve accuracy of exposure predictions. Within this study, a case study was conducted where 5 different ML or hybrid modeling approaches were used to redevelop the "asbestos removal exposure assessment tool," an existing mechanistic exposure model, and their performance was compared. Multiple Linear Regression, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting Machines, Bayesian Network, and Neural Network models were developed using the same dataset and model determinants used to develop the mechanistic model. Random Forest and Gradient Boosting Machines performed best with regards to accuracy, followed by Bayesian Network, Multiple Linear Regression, the original model, and Neural Network. Such models show a promise for the development of more accurate models, but their limitations need to be considered before they can be implemented in a regulatory context. For these models, a trade-off exists where transparency in decision-making is traded against accuracy. Hybrid models such as Bayesian Networks might be a solution for this trade-off as expert knowledge and data-driven approaches are combined in a transparent model.

  © The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

• Design and validation of instruments of working conditions associated with silica and asbestos exposure. C. Antolinez-Figueroa, L.Y.C. Castillo, J.M. Sierra, et al. 2026;70(8). PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  The objective of this study is to design and validate two instruments for characterizing on- and off-the-job working conditions associated with exposure to silica and asbestos in the construction sector. The approach involved four phases: (1) literature review to identify key variables related to exposure, (2) development of the survey instruments, (3) content validation by a panel of experts; and (4) pilot testing with workers and occupational health and safety leaders. Two instruments were constructed. Instrument A, aimed at leaders, had 42 items and instrument B, aimed at workers, had 31 items. Instrument A had a content validity coefficient greater than 0.9 for the 100% of the items in the criteria of relevance, adequacy, pertinence, and coherence, and greater than 0.9 in the criterion of clarity for the 95% of the items. Instrument B had greater variability in the content validity coefficient for the criteria of relevance, adequacy, pertinence, coherence, and clarity, with scores greater than 0.9 for the 71%, 42%, 58%, 48%, and 25% of the items, respectively. The pilot test demonstrated participant understanding of 90% of the items in instrument A and 97% in instrument B. The instruments developed can be used to identify working conditions associated with occupational exposure to silica and asbestos in the sector, thereby facilitating evaluation of working conditions.

  © The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

• Environmental and occupational exposure to erionite and related health risks: progress and prospects. G. Chen, A. Mannetje, J.A. Salmond, et al. 2025;69(7):677-692. Review PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Objectives: Erionite, a naturally occurring fibrous zeolite classified as a human carcinogen, is believed to be more potent than asbestos in causing mesothelioma. However, unlike asbestos, erionite has rarely been used for commercial purposes and, as a result, knowledge about exposure pathways is limited. This paper provides a narrative review of the current knowledge regarding the associations between erionite exposure, health effects and exposure circumstances.

  Methods: Medline/PubMed and Scopus were systematically searched up to the end of 2024 using keywords related to erionite exposure and health outcomes.

  Results: We identified 26 peer-reviewed journal articles reporting on the health effects of erionite exposure, specifically mesothelioma and lung cancer, with mesothelioma being the most extensively studied outcome. Of these, 12 studies focussed on erionite-exposed populations in Turkey, 8 examined health effects among Turkish migrants in northern Europe, and 6 investigated erionite-related health risks in North America (3 in the United States and 3 in Mexico). These studies showed a very high incidence of mesothelioma, often in relatively young individuals, from the Cappadocia region of Turkey, with well-documented environmental exposures to erionite, contributing to a high proportion of all deaths (21% to 51%) in affected villages. Evidence of lung cancer associated with erionite exposure was also found. There is also evidence of erionite exposure-associated mesothelioma in Guanajuato, central Mexico. In the United States, erionite exposure-associated health effects (not mesothelioma) have been reported among people occupationally exposed to erionite. Studies on environmental exposures have shown outdoor concentrations ranging from 0.001 f/ml to 0.3 f/ml, while indoor concentrations have ranged from 0.005 to 1.38 f/ml. Occupational exposure to erionite has been less studied, with only one study in forestry workers showing elevated exposures to erionite ranging from non-detectable to 0.36 f/cc. Erionite deposits have also been identified in other countries such as Italy and New Zealand, but exposures and associated health effects have not yet been studied in these regions.

  Conclusion: There is clear evidence that environmental exposure to erionite in the Cappadocia region of Turkey, and Guanajuato in central Mexico are causally associated with the high mesothelioma rates observed in these areas. Evidence for other parts of the world where there is naturally occurring erionite is limited. This review has highlighted significant knowledge gaps, and advocates for further research on occupational exposure to erionite fibres and associated health effects.

  © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

• European harmonization of asbestos exposure assessment: comparing PCM, SEM, and TEM to derive conversion factors. R. Franken, P. Tromp, T.K. Ervik, et al. 2025;69(6):575-591. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  After the European ban on the use of asbestos, exposure assessment of asbestos became imperative for ensuring compliance with safety standards. However, each European country has their own legislation and requirements, including measurement strategies, analytical techniques such as the microscope used as well as occupational exposure limits (OELs). The recent EU directive (EU) 2023/2668 significantly lowered the OEL for asbestos from 100,000 fibres/m³ 8-h time-weighted average to either 2,000 fibres/m³ when counting fibres between 0.2 and 3 µm in diameter, or 10,000 fibres/m³ when counting fibres thinner than 0.2 µm and dictates a transition from optical to electron microscopy analysis by the end of 2029. This change impacts Member States that rely on phase-contrast microscopy (PCM) to quantify asbestos concentrations, prompting the need for a standardized comparison between different analytical methods. Therefore, our study investigated whether conversion factors could be developed, enabling comparison of results obtained with different analytical techniques. To achieve this, a phased approach was applied, involving a survey of measurement strategies implemented by different countries in Europe, a literature search, and analysis of in-house data to explore differences between analytical techniques. Standardized conversion factors were developed via (i) direct comparison of concentrations from analysis with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and/or PCM, (ii) a multiple linear regression model, and (iii) via log probability plots from raw data on fibre dimensions. Ten institutes from the 'Partnership for European Research in Occupational Safety and Health' (PEROSH) asbestos network participated in this study. The results showed that SEM and PCM were the most commonly used analytical techniques, with TEM also being used in 3 countries. OELs and measurement standards/protocols varied across countries, and most employed national derived standards for measurements. Conversion factors overall showed that measurements analysed by TEM resulted in higher fibre concentrations followed by PCM and SEM. Although conversion factors were developed, these were influenced by factors such as material type, applied energy, and local controls, preventing the derivation of a general conversion method.

  © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

• Occupational exposure to chrysotile in an asbestos cement factory in Kyrgyzstan. Z. Kurzhunbaeva, A. Spinazzè, D. Campagnolo, et al. 2024;68(9):992-998. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Objectives: An increasing number of countries are banning the production and use of asbestos, in compliance with the ratification of the C162 Asbestos Convention and the Basel Convention, and in response to the call for its elimination in the ILO resolution and WHO reports on the health risks associated with asbestos. Nevertheless, several countries, including Kyrgyzstan, are still miners and/or manufacturers of asbestos. The main objective of the study is to assess the occupational exposure to chrysotile of workers engaged in a production facility of asbestos-cement products in Kyrgyzstan.

  Methods: Monitored workers (n = 16, for a total of n = 18 samples) were divided into 3 "Similar Exposure Groups" (SEGs; SEG-1: asbestos loading; SEG-2; asbestos-cement mixing; SEG-3: cutting of asbestos-cement sheets) according to EN 689 standard. Samples were collected through personal sampling and subsequently examined by means of scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy-dispersive spectrometer for the compositional analysis of each fibre. The numerical concentration of airborne asbestos fibres was henceforward determined by dividing the number of fibres and the volume of sampled air (expressed in the number of fibres per millilitre of air: ff/ml).

  Results: Investigated workers resulted to be exposed to chrysotile fibres. Results (GM ± GSD) outlined extremely high exposure levels for SEG-1 (2.2 ± 2.1 ff/ml) and SEG-3 (4.7 ± 1.6 ff/ml) workers and lower-but still relevant-exposure values for SEG-2 (0.91 ± 2.6 ff/ml) workers.

  Conclusions: The results obtained in this case study can help to document potentially critical situations of occupational exposure to asbestos that can still occur nowadays in low and middle-income countries where asbestos is still mined and processed.

  © The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected] for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact [email protected].

• Rapid fiber-detection technique by artificial intelligence in phase-contrast microscope images of simulated atmospheric samples. T. Yamamoto, K. Iwasaki, Y. Iida, et al. 2024;68(4):420-426. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Since the manufacture, import, and use of asbestos products have been completely abolished in Japan, the main cause of asbestos emissions into the atmosphere is the demolition and removal of buildings built with asbestos-containing materials. To detect and correct asbestos emissions from inappropriate demolition and removal operations at an early stage, a rapid method to measure atmospheric asbestos fibers is required. The current rapid measurement method is a combination of short-term atmospheric sampling and phase-contrast microscopy counting. However, visual counting takes a considerable amount of time and is not sufficiently fast. Using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze microscope images to detect fibers may greatly reduce the time required for counting. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the use of AI image analysis for detecting fibers in phase-contrast microscope images. A series of simulated atmospheric samples prepared from standard samples of amosite and chrysotile were observed using a phase-contrast microscope. Images were captured, and training datasets were created from the counting results of expert analysts. We adopted 2 types of AI models-an instance segmentation model, namely the mask region-based convolutional neural network (Mask R-CNN), and a semantic segmentation model, namely the multi-level aggregation network (MA-Net)-that were trained to detect asbestos fibers. The accuracy of fiber detection achieved with the Mask R-CNN model was 57% for recall and 46% for precision, whereas the accuracy achieved with the MA-Net model was 95% for recall and 91% for precision. Therefore, satisfactory results were obtained with the MA-Net model. The time required for fiber detection was less than 1 s per image in both AI models, which was faster than the time required for counting by an expert analyst.

  © The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

• Measurements of airborne asbestos fibres during refurbishing. T.K. Ervik, S.E. Hammer, N.P. Skaugset, et al. 2023;67(8):952-964. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Although the use of asbestos fibres in building materials has been prohibited in Norway since 1985, asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) are still found in many buildings. Lack of knowledge and awareness of these materials may lead to exposure during refurbishing. The aim of this study was to investigate the airborne fibre concentration and classify fibres found during the abatement of various ACMs. The release of fibres during short-term work tasks, such as drilling and sawing, was also investigated. Parallel air samples were collected during asbestos abetment of different building materials and analysed with scanning electron microscope (SEM) and phase-contrast microscope (PCM), respectively. Material samples were analysed with SEM. A real-time fibre monitor was used to measure asbestos during short-term work. The highest fibre concentrations were measured for samples collected during the removal of asbestos insulating boards (1.5-4.5 fibres/cm3 [f/cm3]), and the numbers were relatively similar for SEM and PCM. A large difference in asbestos concentrations was found between SEM and PCM when analysing floor materials, which were probably caused by a high number of gypsum fibres that the PCM operator counted. Thin fibres (<0.2 µm in width) were included in the SEM count and constituted up to 50% of the total fibre concentration for the asbestos cement materials. The presence of other inorganic and organic fibres on these samples probably led to similar results between SEM and PCM. Short-term work led to peak concentrations above 30 f/cm3.

  © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

• A Quantitative Retrospective Exposure Assessment for Former Chrysotile Asbestos Miners and Millers from Baie Verte, NL, Canada. T. Giles Murphy, S. Bornstein, J. Oudyk, et al. 2021;65(1):113-126. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Despite numerous studies of asbestos workers in the epidemiologic literature, there are very few cohort studies of chrysotile asbestos miners/millers that include high-quality retrospective exposure assessments. As part of the creation of the Baie Verte Miners' Registry in 2008, a two-dimensional job exposure matrix (JEM) was developed for estimating asbestos exposures for former chrysotile asbestos miners/millers. Industrial hygiene data collected between 1963 and 1994 were analysed to assess validity for use in a retrospective exposure assessment and epidemiologic study. Registered former employees were divided into 52 exposure groups (EGs) based on job title and department and mean asbestos concentrations were calculated for each EG. The resulting exposure estimates were linked to individual registrants' work histories allowing for the calculation of cumulative asbestos exposure for each registrant. The distribution of exposure for most EGs (82.6%) could be described as fitting a log-normal distribution, although variability within some EGs (55%) exceeded a geometric standard deviation (GSD) of 2.5. Overall, the data used to create EGs in the development of the JEM were deemed to be of adequate quality for estimating cumulative asbestos exposures for the former employees of the Baie Verte asbestos mine/mill. The variability between workers in the same job was often high and is an important factor to be considered when using estimates of cumulative asbestos exposure to adjudicate compensation claims. The exposures experienced in this cohort were comparable to those of other chrysotile asbestos miners/millers cohorts, specifically Italian and Québec cohorts.

  © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

• Occupational Asbestos Exposure and Kidney Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Cohort Studies. C.C.Y. Pang, K. Phan, M.N. Karim, et al. 2021;65(3):255-265. Meta-analysis · Systematic review PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Objectives: An estimated 125 million workers are exposed to asbestos worldwide. Asbestos is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 1 carcinogen. The association between occupational asbestos exposure and kidney cancer is not well established however. This study aimed to determine the mortality and incidence of kidney cancer in workers who have been exposed to asbestos. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the association between occupational asbestos exposure and kidney cancer.

  Methods: Medline, EMBASE, and Web of Science were searched according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for articles on occupational asbestos exposure and kidney cancer. The studies reported the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) or standardized incidence ratio (SIR) of kidney cancer in workers exposed to asbestos. SMRs or SIRs with its 95% confidence interval (CI) were pooled using a fixed-effect model.

  Results: Forty-nine cohort studies involving 335 492 workers were selected for analysis. These studies included 468 kidney cancer deaths and 160 incident cases. The overall pooled-SMR of kidney cancer was 0.95 (95% CI: 0.86-1.05), with no significant heterogeneity (PQ = 0.09, I2 = 24.87%). The overall pooled-SIR of kidney cancer was 0.95 (95% CI: 0.79-1.11), with no significant heterogeneity (PQ = 0.68, I2 = 0.00%). Subgroup analysis did not find any increased association with occupational asbestos exposure. There was no evidence of publication bias with Egger's test P values of 0.08 for mortality studies and 0.99 for incidence studies.

  Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis did not show evidence of association between occupational asbestos exposure and kidney cancer mortality or incidence.

  © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

• Performance of Asbestos Enclosure Ventilation: Laboratory Evaluation of Complex Configuration. I. Kulmala, M. Linnainmaa, A. Kokkonen, et al. 2021;65(9):1085-1095. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  The aim of the study was to find out good practices for effective air distribution inside a complex shaped asbestos enclosure and for control of pressure differences between the enclosure and the surroundings. In addition, sufficient pressure difference for asbestos containment was tested. The effect of air distribution was studied in laboratory conditions by constructing an L-shaped asbestos enclosure and connecting it to a negative pressure unit. The efficiency of six different ventilation configurations was compared using a tracer decay method and the local air change indexes as the performance indicator. The sufficient negative pressure for containment was assessed by simulating person traffic to and from the enclosure and recording the pressure difference continuously. The effect of a pressure controller unit in maintaining the target pressure difference was also tested by simulating filter loadings of the negative pressure unit causing changes in the air flow rate. The results showed that high nominal air change rates alone do not guarantee good air distribution. Effective air distribution within an asbestos enclosure can be arranged by locating additional air supply openings far away from the air exhaustion point, using recirculation air with a pressure controller, or extending the exhaust location to the poorly ventilated areas. A pressure difference of at least -10 Pa is recommended to ensure a sufficient margin of safety in practical situations.

  © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

• Workplace Emissions and Exposures During Semiconductor Nanowire Production, Post-production, and Maintenance Work. C. Isaxon, K. Lovén, L. Ludvigsson, et al. 2020;64(1):38-54. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Background: Nanowires are a high-aspect-ratio material of increasing interest for a wide range of applications. A new and promising method to produce nanowires is by aerotaxy, where the wires are grown in a continuous stream of gas. The aerotaxy method can grow nanowires much faster than by more conventional methods. Nanowires have important properties in common with asbestos fibers, which indicate that there can be potential health effects if exposure occurs. No conclusive exposure (or emission) data from aerotaxy-production of nanowires has so far been published.

  Methods: Different work tasks during semiconductor nanowire production, post-production, and maintenance were studied. A combination of direct-reading instruments for number concentration (0.007-20 µm) and filter sampling was used to assess the emissions (a couple of centimeter from the emission sources), the exposure in the personal breathing zone (max 30 cm from nose-mouth), and the concentrations in the background zone (at least 3 m from any emission source). The filters were analyzed for metal dust composition and number concentration of nanowires. Various surfaces were sampled for nanowire contamination.

  Results: The particle concentrations in the emission zone (measured with direct-reading instruments) were elevated during cleaning of arc discharge, manual reactor cleaning, exchange of nanowire outflow filters, and sonication of substrates with nanowires. In the case of cleaning of the arc discharge and manual reactor cleaning, the emissions affected the concentrations in the personal breathing zone and were high enough to also affect the concentrations in the background. Filter analysis with electron microscopy could confirm the presence of nanowires in some of the air samples.

  Conclusions: Our results show that a major part of the potential for exposure occurs not during the actual manufacturing, but during the cleaning and maintenance procedures. The exposures and emissions were evaluated pre- and post-upscaling the production and showed that some work tasks (e.g. exchange of nanowire outflow filters and sonication of substrates with nanowires) increased the emissions post-upscaling.

  © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

2010s

• Confidence Intervals for Asbestos Fiber Counts: Approximate Negative Binomial Distribution. D. Bartley, J. Slaven, M. Harper. 2017;61(2):237-247. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  The negative binomial distribution is adopted for analyzing asbestos fiber counts so as to account for both the sampling errors in capturing only a finite number of fibers and the inevitable human variation in identifying and counting sampled fibers. A simple approximation to this distribution is developed for the derivation of quantiles and approximate confidence limits. The success of the approximation depends critically on the use of Stirling's expansion to sufficient order, on exact normalization of the approximating distribution, on reasonable perturbation of quantities from the normal distribution, and on accurately approximating sums by inverse-trapezoidal integration. Accuracy of the approximation developed is checked through simulation and also by comparison to traditional approximate confidence intervals in the specific case that the negative binomial distribution approaches the Poisson distribution. The resulting statistics are shown to relate directly to early research into the accuracy of asbestos sampling and analysis. Uncertainty in estimating mean asbestos fiber concentrations given only a single count is derived. Decision limits (limits of detection) and detection limits are considered for controlling false-positive and false-negative detection assertions and are compared to traditional limits computed assuming normal distributions.

  Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society 2017.

• Temporal Trends in Airborne Dust Concentrations at a Large Chrysotile Mine and its Asbestos-enrichment Factories in the Russian Federation During 1951-2001. S.J. Schonfeld, E.V. Kovalevskiy, E. Feletto, et al. 2017;61(7):797-808. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Objectives: Mining and processing of chrysotile, an established carcinogen, has been undertaken in Asbest, Russian Federation since the late 1800s. Dust concentrations were routinely recorded at the open-pit mine and its asbestos-enrichment factories. We examined the temporal trends in these dust concentrations from 1951 to 2001.

  Methods: Analyses included 89290 monthly averaged gravimetric dust concentrations in six factories (1951-2001) and 1457 monthly averaged concentrations in the mine (1964-2001). Annual percent changes (APC) in geometric mean dust concentrations were estimated for each factory and the mine separately from linear mixed models of the logarithmic-transformed monthly averaged concentrations.

  Results: Dust concentrations declined significantly in the mine [APC: -1.6%; 95% confidence interval (CI): -3.0 to -0.2] and Factories 1-5 but not 6. Overall factory APCs ranged from -30.4% (95% CI: -51.9 to -8.9; Factory 1: 1951-1955) to -0.6% (95% CI: -1.5 to 0.2; Factory 6: 1969-2001). Factory trends varied across decades, with the steepest declines observed before 1960 [APCs: -21.5% (Factory 2) and -17.4% (Factory 3)], more moderate declines in the 1960s and 1970s [APCs from -10% in Factory 2 (1960s) to -0.3% (not statistically significant) in Factory 4 (1970s)], and little change thereafter. Mine dust concentrations increased in the 1960s (APC: +9.7%; 95% CI: 3.6 to 15.9), decreased in the 1990s (APC: -5.8%; 95% CI: -8.1 to -3.5) and were stable in between.

  Conclusions: In this analysis of >90000 dust concentrations, factory dust concentrations declined between 1951 and 1979 and then stabilized. In the mine, dust levels increased in the 1960s, declined in the 1990s and were unchanged in the interim.

  Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society 2017.

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