Abstract

The standard thermal precipitator has been modified for field surveys of airborne dust exposure so as to make it more portable. A microprojector is used when assessing the samples and for coal-mine dusts the counts are restricted to the range 0·5 to 5 microns.

In industrial environments the dust concentration appears to vary with a standard deviation of more than 50% of the mean. Part of this variability is due to errors of the thermal precipitator. The standard error of a count of a sample is about 10% to 15% in practical work and the combined effect of this and other errors is that the standard error of a single result is about 15%. However, in practice this can be neglected since the dust concentration itself is so variable. A more important source of error is the bias, due to overlapping among the particles on the cover glasses. The count may give a serious underestimate of the number of airborne particles if high sample densities are used.

The product of average concentration and duration of exposure is probably a good index of the dose of dust retained in a man's lungs. The duration of exposure is measured by a simple time study made at the same time as the concentration is measured.

Samples are taken near workers chosen at random to give unbiased estimates of the dust exposure. Ideally successive samples are taken alongside different workers. However, in a survey at a colliery it was not possible to do this and each day had to be spent with one collier. The mean dust exposure of the coal-getters was 2,860 particle-hours per shift, of those on stone work 2,250 particle-hours per shift, and the remainder had a mean dust exposure of 1,010 particle-hours per shift.

In a survey at a steel works successive samples could be taken alongside different workers. It was found that the dustiness was unrelated to the apparently dusty processes and as the dust was very fine it was suspected that it was the normal atmospheric pollution of the neighbourhood. This was confirmed by samples taken outside.

The cost of such surveys is found to lie between £1 and £2 per sample taken and consequently alternative instruments are being developed which can run unattended for long periods. In future research studies respiratory ventilation as well as dust exposure may be measured over many years, which, combined with periodic medical examinations, would enable the relation between dust exposure and its effects on the men to be determined.