Application of End-of-Shift Respirable Crystalline Silica Monitoring to Construction

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chien C-H ; Harper M ; Huang G ; Kashon ML ; Lopez B ; Morea A ; Sing SY ; Wu C-Y
• Description:
  A pilot project was conducted to determine the effect of common construction dusts as interferences in a new portable end-of-shift (EoS), direct-on-filter (DoF) sampling and analysis method for respirable crystalline silica (RCS), in this case, quartz. Construction dusts were prepared from plaster, drywall, cement and brick by grinding, aerosolizing, and collecting respirable dust with high flow rate cyclones. Filters were loaded with different levels of commercial a-quartz powder Min-u-Sil 5, and different levels of interfering dusts, singly and in combination. Samples were analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Good correlations were found between nominal quartz loading (0 ug, 25 ug, 50 ug, and 100 ug) adjusted for quartz in the interfering dust and FTIR absorbance alone and in the presence of all interfering dusts. The slopes of the correlations were similar whether the loading was quartz without interference, or with plaster, drywall, and cement dusts, regardless of quantity. The results show that (a) plaster and drywall dusts do not interfere substantially; (b) cement does not interfere, but a change in the intercept suggests an effect on the background absorbance of the filter; and (c) in addition to having a substantial quartz content, brick dust contains an additional material, probably a silicate mineral, which interferes with the quartz peak. Thus, the presence of cement leads to lower quartz values and brick leads to higher values, but overall, 83% of the quartz contents predicted from the calibration data agreed within 50% of the adjusted nominal loadings within the range 20-110 ug. This result is encouraging given the high levels of interfering dusts. Nine samples loaded with smaller amounts of all four dusts together gave results within 25% of the adjusted nominal loadings. A single mixture addition of the dusts to the filter gave tighter variance in results than sequential additions. Unexpectedly, the two Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) 1878a and 1878b, gave different results when used to calibrate XRD analysis of Min-u-Sil 5. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Dust Occupational Health Quartz Safety Silicon Dioxide
• Keywords:
  Analytical Processes Author Keywords: Construction Construction Industry Field Analysis FTIR Spectroscopy Quartz Quartz Dust Respirable Crystalline Silica Respirable Dust Sampling Methods Silica Dusts

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• ISSN:
  1545-9624
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Maryland ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  416-425
• Volume:
  17
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20060621
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Hyg 2020 Sep; 17(9):416-425
• Contact Point Address:
  Martin Harper, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
• Email:
  MHarper@zefon.com
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• End Date:
  20240831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1cdccd8e1080b3f2e894eb4909787701fcfdb55e231b11a0af6a8cb9ff8ae2b109426fd4b9578d112808c9fa34f9d76ee61b4c1b36e6a0e9253f3cd720ba0fea
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224476/cdc_224476_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.03 MB ]