Wood Dust Sampling: Field Evaluation of Personal Samplers When Large Particles Are Present

Abstract

Recent recommendations for wood dust sampling include sampling according to the inhalable convention of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 7708 (1995) Air quality—particle size fraction definitions for health-related sampling. However, a specific sampling device is not mandated, and while several samplers have laboratory performance approaching theoretical for an ‘inhalable’ sampler, the best choice of sampler for wood dust is not clear. A side-by-side field study was considered the most practical test of samplers as laboratory performance tests consider overall performance based on a wider range of particle sizes than are commonly encountered in the wood products industry. Seven companies in the wood products industry of the Southeast USA (MS, KY, AL, and WV) participated in this study. The products included hardwood flooring, engineered hardwood flooring, door skins, shutter blinds, kitchen cabinets, plywood, and veneer. The samplers selected were 37-mm closed-face cassette with ACCU-CAP™, Button, CIP10-I, GSP, and Institute of Occupational Medicine. Approximately 30 of each possible pairwise combination of samplers were collected as personal sample sets. Paired samplers of the same type were used to calculate environmental variance that was then used to determine the number of pairs of samples necessary to detect any difference at a specified level of confidence. Total valid sample number was 888 (444 valid pairs). The mass concentration of wood dust ranged from 0.02 to 195 mg m−3. Geometric mean (geometric standard deviation) and arithmetic mean (standard deviation) of wood dust were 0.98 mg m−3 (3.06) and 2.12 mg m−3 (7.74), respectively. One percent of the samples exceeded 15 mg m−3, 6% exceeded 5 mg m−3, and 48% exceeded 1 mg m−3. The number of collected pairs is generally appropriate to detect a 35% difference when outliers (negative mass loadings) are removed. Statistical evaluation of the nonsimilar sampler pair results produced a finding of no significant difference between any pairing of sampler type. A practical consideration for sampling in the USA is that the ACCU-CAP™ is similar to the sampler currently used by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for purposes of demonstrating compliance with its permissible exposure limit for wood dust, which is the same as for Particles Not Otherwise Regulated, also known as inert dust or nuisance dust (Method PV2121).

Analysis of dust exposure during chainsaw forest operations

“…1). The sampler was made of steel with a semi-spherical protective shield with conical micro-holes to avoid aspiration of noninhalable projectile particles (Davies et al 1999, Harper et al 2004, Lee et al 2011. Inclusion of these large particles would bias the sampling because they are too heavy to be inhaled (Kauffer et al 2010).…”

“…In still other countries, the OEL, referred to inhalable fraction, is lower and usually without distinction between softwood and hardwood: 3 mg m -3 in Belgium, 2 mg m -3 in Austria, Germany and Sweden, and 1 mg m -3 in France. Symptoms in the upper respiratory system have been reported also at much lower exposure levels, from 1 mg m -3 (Foà et al 2008 Lee et al 2011, Chirila et al 2014. In relationship to wood dust exposure and its effect on health, many studies have been carried out taking into consideration woodworking industry workers (sawmill, joinery, etc.).…”

Silica Measurement with High Flow Rate Respirable Size Selective Samplers: A Field Study

“…where the probability of occurrence in a normally distributed data set is < 0.001). In a more recent study of inhalable samplers in the workplace (Lee et al ., 2011) this criterion was replaced by a simpler exclusion of mass concentration ratios between pairs of samplers <0.3 or >3.0, and the same criterion is applied here. Most outliers in the present study were from Irish samples (site 7, Table 1; >70%) and this is likely because of area sampling near the generation of dust with relatively short sampling times (<60 min) at high respirable dust and quartz concentration.…”

Determining size fractions of an aerosol in view of new definitions in polish regulation

“…The research was carried out at seven selected workstations where mostly wood dust or coal dust were emitted. The methodology of this research was based on studies described by [8,9]. Due to fact, that side-by-side testing method was considered as the most practical, an approach based on this method was adopted in present study.…”

“…The selection of studied samplers for assessment and reference sampler was dictated by the equipment available on the Polish market and the results of the works and recommendations described in [8][9][10][11][12][14][15][16][17][18]. The following heads were used to determine the inhalable fraction: TWO-MET (open head), open head sampler EKOHIGIENA with an internal filter cassette (identical flow rate and construction highly like the TWO-MET probe), GSP 3.5 and GSP 10.…”