Workplace air measurements and likelihood of exposure to manufactured nano-objects, agglomerates, and aggregates

Workplace air measurements and likelihood of exposure to manufactured nano-objects, agglomerates, and aggregates

Brouwer, D.H.
van Duuren-Stuurman, B.
Berges, M.
Bard, D.
Jankowska, E.
Moehlmann, C.
Pelzer, J.
Mark, D.

2013

Manufactured nano-objects, agglomerates, and aggregates (NOAA) may have adverse effect on human health, but little is known about occupational risks since actual estimates of exposure are lacking. In a large-scale workplace air-monitoring campaign, 19 enterprises were visited and 120 potential exposure scenarios were measured. A multi-metric exposure assessment approach was followed and a decision logic was developed to afford analysis of all results in concert. The overall evaluation was classified by categories of likelihood of exposure. At task level about 53 % showed increased particle number or surface area concentration compared to ‘‘background’’ level, whereas 72 % of the TEM samples revealed an indication that NOAA were present in the workplace. For 54 out of the 120 task-based exposure scenarios, an overall evaluation could be made based on all parameters of the decision logic. For only 1 exposure scenario (approximately 2 %), the highest level of potential likelihood was assigned, whereas in total in 56 % of the exposure scenarios the overall evaluation revealed the lowest level of likelihood. However, for the remaining 42 % exposure to NOAA could not be excluded.

Life
QS - Quality & Safety
EELS - Earth, Environmental and Life Sciences
Work and Employment
Workplace
Healthy Living
Inhalation
Occupational exposure
Surface area
Particle number concentration
Decision logic

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:268261d0-c5e4-48fe-8203-b25c8d38faac

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-2090-7

483300

Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 15

2090

article