Abstract

Objectives To design and construct a standardised tool to provide exposure information associated with commonly used asbestos products and their related tasks in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Methods Asbestos dust exposure measurements taken during workplace inspections in the 1970s and 1980s were collected and stored in an exposure database. Measurements were assigned to specific asbestos product and task groups and divided into two sampling periods 1970–1979 and 1980–1989.

Results A total of 1578 asbestos air measurements collected from WorkCover and Dust Diseases Board company records were entered into a custom built exposure database. An asbestos-specific exposure matrix (ASTEM) was constructed in Microsoft Excel 2000, consisting of 3 axes incorporating 12 tasks, 8 asbestos products and the 2 time periods based on 872 individual measurements extracted from the exposure database. Each matrix cell contains the mean asbestos exposure levels measured in fibres/ml, 5th and 95th percentiles and number of data points in the set.

Conclusion An ASTEM has been developed which provides exposure levels for different task/product combinations. When used in conjunction with a detailed occupational history, it will improve exposure estimates of a worker's cumulative asbestos exposure.