On the Nature of Aerosols Generated During Flock Production and Coating

Details

• Personal Author:
  Jones, William G. ; Piacitelli, Chris A.
• Description:
  FIock refers to short fibers which are applied to a surface to produce a velvet-like finish. We have previously reported on dust levels and aerosol characteristics in a plant where nylon flock fibers are produced and applied to fabric backing material. High dust levels were recorded and microscopic analysis was used to identify a variety of particle types including small shreds of nylon. Herein we report on results obtained from two additional flock plants. One plant produces flock fiber while the other is exclusively engaged in the process of applying flock fibers to backing material. In addition to nylon, these plants processed rayon, acrylic and polyester fiber. Measurements were made for respirable, thoracic and total dust. Fiber counts were made using the NIOSH 7400 method. In order to relate workplace dynamics to exposure, real-time dust measurements were made using photometers and related to time synchronized video. Dust samples were examined using both light and electron microscopy. Average area fiber counts were about 0.5 fibers/cm3 in the flock production plant and 3 fibers/cm3 for the flock coating operation. Area levels of the various measures of size selected particulate were generally less than 0.3 mgim3 in the flock production plant and 1.5 mgim3 in the coating plant. Personal measures of dust and fiber at both plants were typically below I mgim3 and I fiber/cm3 respectively. Real time dust/video analysis clearly linked peak exposures to cleaning operations. Although the dust examined at these plants was qualitatively similar to the dust measured in our first study, levels were lower. Microscopic examination of air and bulk samples suggests that the tendency to form small shreds of synthetic fiber during this process is not unique to nylon. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Dust Environmental Monitoring Microbiology Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-samples Dust-particles Dust-sampling Exposure-levels Microscopic-analysis Particulate-dust Particulates Respirable-dust Synthetic-fibers
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 9 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  95
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20022528
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, June 1-6, 2002, San Diego, California. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2002 Jun; :95
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Exposure Assessment Methods
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, June 1-6, 2002, San Diego, California
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4dfe3ea11bdbaf679a5af49327a77c231efc262e75790b5b462899d88243da1f79dff8dacea3d9d843c00aa3e50537c51a94a198d3f2ab4dd916656c7c9fa8e6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199274/cdc_199274_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 486.35 KB ]