Respirable dust and respirable crystalline silica exposures among workers at stone countertop fabrication shops in Georgia from 2017 through 2023.

IF 1.8 4区医学 Q3 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Annals Of Work Exposures and Health Pub Date : 2025-06-30 DOI:10.1093/annweh/wxaf014

Jhy-Charm Soo, Jenny Houlroyd, Hilarie Warren, Brandon J Philpot, Sean Castillo

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives: This longitudinal study examines the severity of worker exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) and respirable dust and demonstrates the need for increased education and implementation of both appropriate engineering controls and respiratory protection (RP) programs for stone fabricator shops, given the growing global number of accelerated silicosis cases associated with the fabrication of engineered stone (ES) countertops.

Methods: Personal air sampling results and detailed job description notes obtained from 17 industrial hygiene air sampling visits conducted at 11 stone fabrication facilities between 2017 and 2023 in Georgia were used to align similar exposure groups (SEGs) for tasks for workers performing stone fabrication. Bayesian decision analysis was used to determine appropriate RP selection recommendations for the 4 proposed SEGs: SEG1-Support, SEG2-Automated Tool Operator, SEG 3-Small Tool Operator, and SEG 4-Fabrication/Lamination.

Results: The analysis concluded that all employees in stone fabrication shops that process ES should wear a respirator with a minimum assigned protection factor (APF) of 10, regardless of the engineering controls in place. For SEG 4, it is recommended that workers use respirators with an APF between 50 and 1,000. Among the 75 full-shift personal air samples for RCS dust, 41 samples (53%) exceeded the permissible exposure limit of 50 µg/m³.

Conclusions: This is the first study to present the 4 SEG categories with sampling data to support the importance of including all employees (even support workers) in RP programs, exposure monitoring, and medical surveillance.

Recommendation and implications: Employers, occupational health professionals, and inspectors may use these SEG categories and corresponding RP recommendations to determine if employees have received appropriate RP for workers at stone countertop fabrication shops.

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2017年至2023年佐治亚州石材台面加工车间工人的可呼吸性粉尘和可呼吸性结晶二氧化硅暴露。

目的：这项纵向研究考察了工人暴露于可呼吸性结晶二氧化硅（RCS）和可呼吸性粉尘的严重程度，并证明了增加教育和实施适当的工程控制和呼吸保护（RP）计划的必要性，考虑到与工程石材（ES）台面制造相关的全球加速矽肺病病例数量的增加。方法：从2017年至2023年在格鲁吉亚的11个石材加工设施进行的17次工业卫生空气采样访问中获得的个人空气采样结果和详细的工作描述笔记用于对齐石材加工工人的类似暴露组（seg）任务。贝叶斯决策分析用于确定4个拟议SEG的适当RP选择建议：seg1 -支持，seg2 -自动化工具操作员，SEG 3-小型工具操作员和SEG 4-制造/层压。结果：分析得出的结论是，无论工程控制措施如何，所有加工ES的石材加工车间的员工都应佩戴最低指定保护系数（APF）为10的呼吸器。对于SEG 4，建议工人使用APF在50到1000之间的呼吸器。在75个全班个人空气样本中，有41个样本（53%）超过了50µg/m³的允许暴露限值。结论：这是第一个用抽样数据提出4种SEG分类的研究，以支持将所有员工（甚至支持工人）纳入RP计划、暴露监测和医疗监测的重要性。建议和影响：雇主、职业健康专业人员和检查员可以使用这些SEG类别和相应的RP建议来确定员工是否接受了石材台面加工车间工人的适当RP。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Annals Of Work Exposures and Health Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

19.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： About the Journal Annals of Work Exposures and Health is dedicated to presenting advances in exposure science supporting the recognition, quantification, and control of exposures at work, and epidemiological studies on their effects on human health and well-being. A key question we apply to submission is, "Is this paper going to help readers better understand, quantify, and control conditions at work that adversely or positively affect health and well-being?" We are interested in high quality scientific research addressing: the quantification of work exposures, including chemical, biological, physical, biomechanical, and psychosocial, and the elements of work organization giving rise to such exposures; the relationship between these exposures and the acute and chronic health consequences for those exposed and their families and communities; populations at special risk of work-related exposures including women, under-represented minorities, immigrants, and other vulnerable groups such as temporary, contingent and informal sector workers; the effectiveness of interventions addressing exposure and risk including production technologies, work process engineering, and personal protective systems; policies and management approaches to reduce risk and improve health and well-being among workers, their families or communities; methodologies and mechanisms that underlie the quantification and/or control of exposure and risk. There is heavy pressure on space in the journal, and the above interests mean that we do not usually publish papers that simply report local conditions without generalizable results. We are also unlikely to publish reports on human health and well-being without information on the work exposure characteristics giving rise to the effects. We particularly welcome contributions from scientists based in, or addressing conditions in, developing economies that fall within the above scope.