HD 780/78

(1)

l~N-MADE MINElliL FIBRE SURVEY AT ELKEM-ROCKWOOL A/S, MOSS

BY

GRETE EDHOLM, BJØRN GYLSETH AND DAVID G. NICHOLSON

HD 780/78

INSTITUTE OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, BOX 8149, DEP, OSLO I

~

. ..

(2)

- l -

CONTENTS : PAGE:

I _ INTRODUCTION. . . .' 2

I I. METHODS... 3

I I IRESULTS . . . .. 5

Tables L - 10... 6 - 14

Figures L - 4. . . .15 - 18

(3)

- 2 -

I INTRODUCTION

The question as to whether occupational exposure to Man-

made-mineral-fibres (MMF) is harmful is of current interest;

especially as these materials are being increasingly used as substi tutes for asbestos. The Joint-European Medical Research Board (JEMBR) has ini tiated an ambi tious progra~~e wi th the view to establishing the consequences of such expo-

sures. An integral part of this programre consists of working out a strategy, and analytical methods, for recording

present total dustjfibre concentrations in the working atmos- pheres in a number of European MMF producing plants. The organisation responsible for this aspect of the study is the Insti tute of Occupational Medicine (10M), Edinburgh.

One of the countries actively participating in this

programre is Norway, where there are six W-~F plants. Four of these were considered suitable subjects for the programre because they keep detailed medical records of workers.

Due to slightly differing methods of sampling and analysis

. . ile

i t was considered of interest to compare procedures used by the two insti tutes. Such a comparison was carried out during the 10M investigations at Elkem-Rockwool AjS at Moss and Larvik. The results from the YHI~survey at Moss are presented in this report.

. ~

(4)

- 3 -

I I METHODS

The dust samples were collected on 37 mmØ, O, 8 ~m Millipore membrane fil ters using CaselIa personal air samplers wi th

an adjusted flow of 2 ljmin. The flow was checked wi th a

calibrated external flowmeter be fore and after

sampling . Before saiapling the upper part of the fil ter

moni tor was removed, thus leaving the whole fil ter area exposed to air. Then the moni tors were mounted in the workers breathing zones. The workers carried the air

samplers for 6 - 8 hours of the shift, including the lunch

period.

A new fil ter was used eve ry day. Before and after use

the filters were desiccated for 24 hours in a desiccator and weighed wi th an accuracy of + O, L mg.

After the total dust determinations a segment from each

fil ter was cut and placed dust-side up onto a clean standard

microscope slide. The slide was exposed to acetone vapour in order to render the fil ter transparent, a few drops of triacetine added and a cover glass placed over the

specimen. Fibre concentrations were recorded in a Zeiss

binocular microscope with positive phase-contrast optics at 500x magnification. This microscope was equipped wi th a Ph 2 40jO, 75 objective with green filter and Kohler

illumination. The specimens were surveyed by scanning inter- mi ttently across the fil ter. Some of the samples were

counted by two persons using graticule A. All samples were

alsocounted twice by one person using different graticules.

Graticule A is a 200 ~m x 200 ~m grid divided into 10 ~m squares .

. ~

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- 4 -

Graticule B. Circular graticule, 100 ~mØ, recommended by 10M (l). In this way one could establish potential personal as well as instrumental differences. The counting proceedures described as below.

Graticule A. All fibres completely wi thin the field were

counted. Two adj acent field sides were defined as "counting

sides" and all fibres crossing these sides were included.

No other fibres were considered .

Graticule B. As specified by rOM (l).

For each sample 40 fields or 100 fibres were counted.

Random samples from each working place were chosen for

fibre size evaluations and fibre concentration determination in the scanning electron microscope.

The fibre size evaluations were performed by mounting a

piece of the membrane fil ter on a standard scanning electron micriscope (SEM) brass stub. The fil ter piece was fastened to the stub with carbon cement or silver paint and thereafter covered wi th a thin layer of carbon or gold by evaporating

to make them conducti ve.

The fibre concentrations were recorded in the SEM at 1500x magnification. Hundred fields were surveyed (O, ios mm2) . Fibre size evaluations were made at 1500x (length) and 15000x

(diameter) magnification respectively. At least 50 fibres in each sample were evaluated.

(l) W. H. Wal ton and S. T. Beckett.

Ann. Occup. Hyg. 20 (1977) 19 - 23.

'. ~

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- 5 -

ILL RESULTS

Table L - 5 contains filter numbers, working places (in English/Norwegian), total dust concentrations (mgjm3), fibre concentrations as determined by optical microscopy

(fibres ~ 3~m and / 3~m in diameter) and finally; the total fibre concentration determined by SEM at 1500x magnifi-

cation.

No statistically significant difference (p ~ O, 05) between the mean values for the two series (A and B) was observed for the two different graticules, nei ther for fibres ~ 3~m in diameter nor for the total fibre concentration.

A statistically significant difference between the two coun- ters were observed both for fibres thinner than 3 ~m and for the total fibre concentrations using graticule A. These

resul ts are shown in Table 6 and 7.

In table 8 and 9 the fibre diameter and length from the SEM

size evaluation are given. ,Table 10 contains mean distribution, standard deviation and range respectively. These results

are further illustrated in Figures L and 2. The relation

between fibre concentration per unit area and magnification

is demonstrated in Figure 3. Finally the correlation between the SEM and the OM is given in Figure 4.

(7)

ELKEM-ROCKWOOL AlS, MOSS T ab L e IOptical microscopy( f ibres jml ) SEM Optiske mikroskop

Fil tei

Working placejPrøvested

Total

F ibre conc.Fibre conc.

Total fibre

No.

dust conc. j

jfiber konsen-jfiber konsen-conc. jtotal

totalstØv

trasjon Ø/3~mtrasjon Ø~3~mfiber konsen- mgjm3

trasjon (fibres jml)

PRE-PRODUCTIONjFØR PRODUKSJON 26

SpinnermanjOvnsrep. -

N.

Gustavsen 2,8 0,05 0,02 0,89

21

6,7 0,07 0,04

44

BindermanjBlandingsmiddel - 1,4 0,02 -

G.

Kristoffersen

l, O

0,02

O, Ol

0,56

PRODUCTIONjPRODUKSJON 39Packing manjOperatør ved

1,3 - -

49sager på enden av linjen -3, L

0,04

O, OL 24J. Wetten2, L

0,03

O, Ol

0,55

2

ForemanjFormann 3,4 0,06 0,02 0,39

12

S. Kristoffersen 0,06 0,04

6

Gen. foremanjFormann

l, O

0,03 0,02

:. -- 28

Operator cavi ty woolj 2,9 0,07 0,02 0,55

5Stationary pumpjStasjonær

1,9 0,05

O, Ol 76

.2,2 0,08 0,02

0'

(8)

ELKEM-ROCKWOOL AlS, MOSS T ab L e 2Optical microscopy

(fibresjml)

SEM Optiske mikroskop

Filter

Working placejPrøvested

Total

F ibre conc.F ibre,xonc .

Total fibre

No.dust conc.jjfiber kqnsen-jfiber konsen-conc . jtotal

tota~støv

trasjon Ø).3~mtrasjon Ø~3~mfiber konsen- mgjm

trasjon (fibres jml)

PRODUCTIONjPRODUKSJON 27Line end manjOperatør ved2, L

0,08 0,04 0,88

sager på enden av linjen - 16S. JØraholmen

2,2 0,12 0,02

SECONDARY PROCESSjETTER- BEHANDLING 33

Sewing machine, thermal 0,8 0,11 0,05 0,99 isulationjsymaskin, tekn.

13

matter -

T. Askerød

2,8 0,14 0,06

38Packing manjOperatør på

5,8 - -

Lpakkemaskin - R.

Halonen 6,5 0,14 0,04

20

1,9 0,08 0,04 1,13

, 43Pipe cuttingjKutting skåler-

4,6 0,08 0,04

:. 47O.

Fredriksen 1,2 0,13 0,05 0,43

'-

(9)

ELKEM-ROCKWOOL AlS, MOSS Table 3Optical microscopy

(fibresjml)

SEM

.optiske mikroskop Filter

Working place/PrØvested

Total

F ibre conc.F ibre conc.

Total f ibre

No.dust conc.jjfiber konsen-jfiber konsen-conc . jtotal

totalstØv

trasjon (f ibres jml)

SECONDARY PROCESSj ETTERBEHANDLING 31

Sewing machine, thermal 1,9 0,12 0,06 0,88.

inslilatiopjSymaskin ,tekn. 22

rna t ter-

A.

Bakke 1,2 0,07 0,06

29

Sewing machine, thermal 1,2 0,08 0,04

3

insulatio~/Symaski~ , tekn. 1,7 0,06 0,03 1,54

25matter - J. V.

Johansen 0,8. 0,07 0,02

, 37Pipe lagging mjc man,5, O

- - liningjSkåler, rulling

77

-

A.

GrØnvold 1,2 0,09 0,06 0,96

.. 40

PipepackjPakking, skåler 0,8 0,07

O, 03 48

-

G.

Frantzen 0,9 0,09 0,02

19

0,9 0,06 0,03 0,87

:

co

(10)

ELKEM-ROCKWOOL AjS, MOSS Table 4Optieal mieroseopy

(fibresjml)

SEM Optiske mikroskop.

Fil ter

Working plaeejprøvested

Total F ibre eone. F ibre eone. Total fibre

No.

dust eone. j

jfiber konsen-jfiber konsen-eone . jtotal

totalstØv

trasjon Ø/3~mtrasjon Ø~3~mfiber konsen- mg jm 3

trasjon ( fibres jml)

MAINTENANCEjVEDLIKEHOLD 46

Eleetr i e ianjE lek tr iker 1,5 0,06 0,04 0,85

14

J.

H. Olsen

1,4 0,04 0,02

34Mai ntenanee/Vedl ikeho Id

1,4 0,06 0,03 1,00

9T. Johansen

2,6 - -

41Main tenaneejVedl ikehold2, O

0,04 0,02

7T. Pedersen

i,9 0,09 0,06 1,35

QUALITY CONTROLj KVALITETSKONTROLL 8Quali ty eontrolj Kvali tets-

0,8 0,04 0,02 kontroll -

R. Ahlsen

'"

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ELKEM-ROCKWOOL AjS, MOSS Table 5Optieal mieroseopy

(fibresjml) Optiske. mikroskop

SEM'

Filter

Working plaeejPrøvested

Total F ibre eone.

Fibre eone.

Total f ibre

No.dust cone.jjfiber konsen-

jf iber konsen-

eone . jtotal

totalstØv

trasjon

( f ibres

jml)

D I STRIBUT ION jLAGER 42

DistributionjLager 0,9 0,04 0,03

50

- P. Lauri tzen 1,4 0,06

O, ol 11

1,5

.

0,07 0,02 0,89

30

DistributionjLager 2,7 0,06

,

0,04

4

-

V.

Larsen

l, O

0,07 0,02 0,62

17

1,6 0,07 0,03

POLYSTYRENE PLANTj POLYSTYREN AVD. 35

Isopore , polystyrene

4, O

0,03 0,02

45

-

R. Vinberg

0,8

O, OlO, Ol

0,18

,

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t-val ue

at

95%

eonf.

95%

eonf.

^{n =}

degrees of

T ab L e 6 Mean AtOJ L imi t s Mean B

(o)

^{L imi t s}

freedom'

Fibres

^~3~mØ

0,074 0,062-0,088 0,071 0,060-0,084 t

⁼

^-0,3166

n ⁼ 84

.

Total f ibre 0,105 0,089-0,126 0,105 0,088-0,124 t

⁼

^-0,0752

eoneen tra tion n ⁼ 84

T ab L e 7 COUNTER L COUNTER 2

t-va lue

at

95%

eonf.

^95%

eonf.

n ⁼

degrees of

Mean

limi ts

Mean

limits freedom

Fibres "~3~mØ

0,081 0,060-0,100 0,044 0,035-0,052 t

⁼

^4,1075

n ⁼ 56

Total fibre 0,113 0,092-0,140, 0,079 0,064-0,097 t

⁼

^2,4382

eoneentration

,n = 56

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TABLE io .---~ DIAMETER(~m)~ L0,1 - 0,50,5 - LL - 3

3- 5

'. ;; 5

-

MEAN(% )

-

17',7

21,5 47,8 10,8 1,5

STANDARD DEVIATION + (SD)( % )

- 10,3 8,6 12,2

5, L

1,9

RANGE( % )

-

4 - 488 - 4622 - 702 - 20o - 6 LENGTH(~m)~ 55 - ioio - 2020 - 5050 - 100

). 100 -

MEAN(% )l, o

14,3 25,9

,

33,5 16,4

~ - g, 3 STANDARD DEVIATION ~ (SD)(% )

1,4 8,7 11,3 11,5 9,2

- 6,5 RANGE(% )o - 42 -' 3814 - 56io - 484 - 302 - 24f- .¡

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,~~ "7 FIGURE .). FIBRES / nri2 x 103 15 12 () u Ll

f(ELATION BEnlEEN FIBRE CONCENTRATION PR. UNIT AREA AND MAGNIFICATION IN SEM. i- '-

2 io

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