Wood dust exposure in the Danish furniture industry using conventional and passive monitors

Ann Occup Hyg. 2001 Mar;45(2):157-64. doi: 10.1016/s0003-4878(00)00055-7.

Abstract

A study of wood dust exposure at furniture factories in one county in Denmark was performed as a cross sectional study. Dust exposure was measured with personal passive dust monitors and calibrated against active sampling on filters. Measurements of 1685 workers were included in the exposure assessment. The passive dust monitor conversion models for equivalent concentrations of inhalable dust and total dust based on data from the present study were not significantly different from the original models. Therefore models based on all available data were used. The parameters of the distribution of equivalent concentration of inhalable dust were 0.94 mg/m3 (geometric mean) and 2.10 (geometric standard deviation). Compared with a national cross sectional study from 1988 the exposure level (geometric mean) was reduced by a factor 2.0. Inhalable dust exposure was about 50% higher than exposure measured by the Danish 'total' dust method.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants, Occupational / analysis*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Denmark
  • Dust / analysis*
  • Environmental Monitoring / instrumentation
  • Environmental Monitoring / methods
  • Humans
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Occupational Exposure / analysis*
  • Wood*

Substances

  • Air Pollutants, Occupational
  • Dust