Occupational exposure silica construction workers literature-based exposure database | ANMA – Associazione Nazionale del Medico Competente e d'Azienda

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. Vol. 10, Iss. 2, February 2013

Occupational exposure to silica in construction workers: a literature-based exposure database.

Beaudry C, Lavoué J, Sauvé JF, Bégin D, Senhaji Rhazi M, Perrault G, Dion C, Gérin M.

Riassunto

We created an exposure database of respirable crystalline silica levels in the construction industry from the literature. We extracted silica and dust exposure levels in publications reporting silica exposure levels or quantitative evaluations of control effectiveness published in or after 1990. The database contains 6118 records (2858 of respirable crystalline silica) extracted from 115 sources, summarizing 11,845 measurements. Four hundred and eighty-eight records represent summarized exposure levels instead of individual values. For these records, the reported summary parameters were standardized into a geometric mean and a geometric standard deviation. Each record is associated with 80 characteristics, including information on trade, task, materials, tools, sampling strategy, analytical methods, and control measures. Although the database was constructed in French, 38 essential variables were standardized and translated into English. The data span the period 1974-2009, with 92% of the records corresponding to personal measurements. Thirteen standardized trades and 25 different standardized tasks are associated with at least five individual silica measurements. Trade-specific respirable crystalline silica geometric means vary from 0.01 (plumber) to 0.30 mg/m³ (tunnel construction skilled labor), while tasks vary from 0.01 (six categories, including sanding and electrical maintenance) to 1.59 mg/m³ (abrasive blasting). Despite limitations associated with the use of literature data, this database can be analyzed using meta-analytical and multivariate techniques and currently represents the most important source of exposure information about silica exposure in the construction industry. It is available on request to the research community.

Commento

L’edilizia è un settore notevolmente poliedrico dal punto di vista sanitario. La natura transitoria di alcuni cantieri, la molteplicità dei compiti all’interno di una medesima mansione e una vasta gamma di determinanti di esposizione rendono difficile descrivere adeguatamente l’esposizione a silice dei lavoratori.

Diversi studi riguardanti monitoraggi ambientali nei cantieri testimoniano come, nel settore, le concentrazioni di silice respirabile superino frequentemente i limiti di esposizione professionale fissati dal NIOSH e ACGIH. In alcuni studi americani i lavoratori sono stati classificati come sovraesposti e sono state richieste azioni urgenti per arginare il problema.

La silice cristallina è designata come cancerogeno per l’uomo dallo IARC (Gruppo 1), National Toxicology Program (NTP), ACGIH e SCOEL.

La ricerca attuale, realizzata da un team canadese, fornisce alla comunità scientifica uno dei più completi database sull’esposizione a silice nel settore delle costruzioni.

Keywords

construction, crystalline silica, exposure database

Rassegna bibliografica