The routine monitoring of airborne asbestos in an occupational environment

Our plain-English summary of The routine monitoring of airborne asbestos in an occupational environment, by A.L. Rickards (The Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 1978).

The study

• Author: A.L. Rickards
• Journal: The Annals of Occupational Hygiene
• Published: 1978;21(3):315-22
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy.

In plain English

This article described the system used to monitor airborne asbestos dust at a major asbestos textile factory run by TBA Industrial Products at Rochdale, employing about 1500 people. It reported no workers' dust results or health outcomes and did not name the asbestos type. Every person working with asbestos was sampled every three months with a membrane filter sampler worn for 3 hours during normal work. The fibre-counting laboratory achieved a standard error of plus or minus 40%. For weekly ventilation checks, a portable Royco particle counter was calibrated against about 300 membrane filter samples. Because this calibration could not measure asbestos precisely, its meter showed green, orange and red zones based on the probability of levels being under 2 or over 6 fibres per ml. Studying individual jobs showed some produced higher dust levels than expected, and some routines were restructured and staff retrained. The author concluded that monitoring is not itself a solution to dust emission but is essential for locating problem areas.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Descriptive methods article: an account of the dust-monitoring techniques and strategy used at one factory. It is not an exposure or health outcome study.
• Who was studied: A major asbestos textile factory (the TBA factory at Rochdale, U.K.) employing about 1500 persons. Every person working with asbestos was covered by personal sampling.
• Exposure: Airborne asbestos dust from textile processes. The article does not name the fiber type. Personal samples were taken on membrane filters over 3-hour periods at 0.5 l./min and counted by phase contrast microscopy. Background levels were checked with a calibrated Royco 218 particle counter.
• Main results:
  • Every person working with asbestos in the factory was sampled once every 3 months, using a computerized record system based on the company payroll.
  • The laboratory's fibre counting generally achieved a standard error of plus or minus 40%.
  • The Royco counter, calibrated against about 300 membrane filter samples, was given three coloured zones: green for 90% probability of less than 2 fibres/ml, orange for 2 to 6 fibres/ml, and red for 90% probability of more than 6 fibres/ml.
  • The Royco system was used mainly as a systematic weekly check on all operations.
  • Combining personal and background monitoring led to the recognition that certain jobs gave rise to higher dust levels than background monitoring would suggest.
  • Job monitoring showed that the work-room behaviour of individual operatives was an important aspect of controlling dust exposure. Some job routines were restructured and the personnel involved were retrained.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that monitoring is not itself a solution to dust emission. In the author's view, a properly constructed, systematic programme is essential to locate problem areas and direct engineering budgets, and the system could serve as a model for monitoring other factory hazards.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The Royco calibration against membrane filter samples did not allow a precise measure of asbestos, only probability estimates of being below or above particular values.
  • The membrane filter method could not be used for day-to-day trouble-shooting because of the time needed to collect and analyse samples.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis.

Related studies

• Airborne concentrations of asbestos in non-occupational environments — M. Corn (1994)
• Mass concentrations of airborne asbestos in the non-occupational environment--a preliminary report of U.K. measurements — G.J. Burdett, J.M. le Guen, et al. (1984)
• A routine for the control of the performance of microscopists evaluating airborne asbestos fibre samples on membrane filters by phase contrast microscopy — J.R. Hoyes, R. Clayton (1980)
• Evaluation of airborne asbestos exposure from routine handling of asbestos-containing wire gauze pads in the research laboratory — E. Garcia, D. Newfang, et al. (2018)
• Evaluation of asbestos exposure in the working environment. Recommendation of subcommittee on asbestosis of the permanent commission and international association on occupational health — (1972)
• Application of sprayed inorganic fiber containing asbestos: occupational health hazards — W.B. Reitze, W.J. Nicholson, et al. (1972)

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