Mortality patterns of rock and slag mineral wool production workers: an epidemiological and environmental study.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dement, John M. ; Ness C ; Robinson CF ; Waxweiler, Richard J.
• Description:
  Chronic health effects and mortality due to rock-mineral-wool and slag-mineral-wool were studied in factory workers. Fiber samples were collected on filters, counted, sized, and analyzed by phase contrast optical microscopy; 10 percent by transmission electron microscopy. Bulk sample fiber diameter distributions were compared after sizing randomly selected fibers by phase contrast microscopy. Work history of 250 production workers was reviewed; they were divided into eight exposure groups according to job. About 75 percent of airborne fibers were less than 3.5 micrometers in diameter. Three percent of all inhaled airborne mineral-wool fibers in this plant were estimated to have been deposited in the lungs and roughly 60 percent of the fibers from the current spinning process would be cleared from the lungs to the gastrointestinal tract. Average airborne fiber concentrations were 2.5 fibers per cubic centimeter before 1935 and 1.0 fibers per cubic centimeter afterwards due to engineering controls. Mortality due to digestive system cancer increased, as well as non-malignant respiratory disease, in employees with over 20 years exposure to mineral-wool or who lived 20 years after their first exposure. Incidences of lung cancer, diseases of central nervous system and heart were recorded. The authors conclude that an association between mineral-wool and carcinogenicity and nonmalignant respiratory disease can not be ruled out yet. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Minerals Mortality Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Fibrous-bodies Health-surveys Industrial-factory-workers Mineral-processing Mortality-rates NIOSH-Author Occupational-medicine
• ISSN:
  0007-1072
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  45-53
• Volume:
  39
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00124732
• Citation:
  Br J Ind Med 1982 Feb; 39(1):45-53
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1982
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  British Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:aef1bcb1786437a95a4689f60f3de01f03d2bab650af8bf4a5b0c624f5d04038422b8934cc682ba878d48db8dd39f712dd52a5e30f264c91b051ee4e8021a37b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/184569/cdc_184569_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.31 MB ]