Managing Quartz Exposure in Apartment Building and Infrastructure Construction Work Tasks

Tapani Tuomi (), Tom Johnsson, Arto Heino, Anniina Lainejoki, Kari Salmi, Mikko Poikkimäki, Tomi Kanerva, Arto Säämänen and Tuula Räsänen
Additional contact information
Tapani Tuomi: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Työterveyslaitos), P.O. Box 40, FI-00032 Helsinki, Finland
Tom Johnsson: Tapaturva Ltd., Finnoonlaaksontie 2, FI-02270 Espoo, Finland
Arto Heino: Lotus Demolition Ltd., Kalliosolantie 2, FI-01740 Vantaa, Finland
Anniina Lainejoki: Lotus Demolition Ltd., Kalliosolantie 2, FI-01740 Vantaa, Finland
Kari Salmi: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Työterveyslaitos), P.O. Box 40, FI-00032 Helsinki, Finland
Mikko Poikkimäki: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Työterveyslaitos), P.O. Box 40, FI-00032 Helsinki, Finland
Tomi Kanerva: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Työterveyslaitos), P.O. Box 40, FI-00032 Helsinki, Finland
Arto Säämänen: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Työterveyslaitos), P.O. Box 40, FI-00032 Helsinki, Finland
Tuula Räsänen: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Työterveyslaitos), P.O. Box 40, FI-00032 Helsinki, Finland

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: The present report describes exposure to respirable silica and dust in the construction industry, as well as means to manage them. The average exposure in studied work tasks ( n = 148) amounted to 64% of the Finnish OEL value of 0.05 mg/m 3 . While 10% of exposure estimates exceeded the OEL, the 60% percentile was well below 10% of the OEL, as was the median exposure. In other words, exposure was low in more than half of the tasks. Work tasks where exposure was low included construction cleaning, work management, installation of concrete elements, rebar laying, driving work machines equipped with cabin air intake filtration, and landscaping, in addition to some road construction tasks. Excessive exposure (>OEL) was related to not using respiratory protection at all or not using it for long enough after the dusty activity ceased. Excessive exposures were found in sandblasting, dismantling facade elements, diamond drilling, drilling hollow-core slabs, drilling with a drilling rig, priming of explosives, tiling, use of cabinless earthmoving machines, and jackhammering, regardless of whether the hammering took place in an underpressurized compartment or not. Even in these tasks, it was possible to perform the work safely, following good dust prevention measures and, when necessary, using respiratory protection suitable for the job. Furthermore, in all tasks with generally low exposure, one could be significantly exposed through the general air or by making poor choices in terms of dust control.

Keywords: respirable crystalline silica; respirable dust exposure; exposure management; construction workers; silicosis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/8/5431/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/8/5431/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:8:p:5431-:d:1118057

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().