Paper number 1199

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH ASPECTS AND REGULATIONS ON AIRBORNE FIBROUS AND NON-FIBROUS DUST

Christensson B¹, Krantz S¹ and Andersson C-H²

1National Institute for Working Life, S-171 84 Solna, Sweden
2Swedish Institute of Fibre and Polymer Research, PO BOX 104, S-431 22 Mölndal, Sweden and Department of Production and Materials Engineering, Lund University, PO Box 118, S-221 00 Lund Sweden.

Summary

The particle deposition in the human respiratory tract is due to particle impaction, interception, sedimentation and diffusion. Many ultra fine dusts or fibres can produce free radicals in lung tissue. Free radicals are one of several important factors for the outcome of fibrosis and lung cancer. For this reason it is important to keep the dust exposure low if the health effect are unknown. Only respirable fibres are known to be a potential health risk to the respiratory system during normal handling. No non-respirable fibre is known as carcinogenic in the respiratory tract. The European Commission has taken a new regulation for silicate fibres, refractory ceramic fibres have decided as possible carcinogenic. Other man made vitreous fibres is classified as possible carcinogenic or not depending on the fibre chemical content. WHO has evaluated the research of para-Aramide fibrils and find no evidence to classify these fibrils as possible carcinogenic.

Keywords

fibre, fragments, size, health, dust, airborne, solubility, lung disease.