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Comparative Study
. 2017 Jul;220(5):857-868.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2017.04.001. Epub 2017 Apr 13.

A comparison of parallel dust and fibre measurements of airborne chrysotile asbestos in a large mine and processing factories in the Russian Federation

Eleonora Feletto  1 , Sara J Schonfeld  2 , Evgeny V Kovalevskiy  3 , Igor V Bukhtiyarov  4 , Sergey V Kashanskiy  5 , Monika Moissonnier  6 , Kurt Straif  7 , Joachim Schüz  8 , Hans Kromhout  9
Affiliations
Comparative Study

A comparison of parallel dust and fibre measurements of airborne chrysotile asbestos in a large mine and processing factories in the Russian Federation

Eleonora Feletto et al. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Introduction: Historic dust concentrations are available in a large-scale cohort study of workers in a chrysotile mine and processing factories in Asbest, Russian Federation. Parallel dust (gravimetric) and fibre (phase-contrast optical microscopy) concentrations collected in 1995, 2007 and 2013/14 were used to determine if dust to fibre conversion factors can be estimated.

Materials/subjects and methods: Daily medians of multiple parallel dust and fibre concentrations by sampling points were used to derive fibre to dust ratios. Applying linear mixed models, we estimated best linear unbiased predictions for the fibre to dust ratios.

Results and discussion: A total of 620 daily median fibre to dust ratios were derived. In the factories, modelled ratios varied by unit, increasing along the stages of asbestos enrichment as expected. In the mine, ratios were higher in winter compared to summer. Overall, the ratios showed a strong negative dependency on dust concentration.

Conclusions: Our study shows that dust to fibre conversion is possible by unit but extrapolations are needed. The patterns for exposure by dust and fibre will be similar but estimated fibre levels will show less contrast due to the conversion factor being smaller at higher dust concentrations.

Keywords: Asbestos; Chrysotile; Conversion; Dust; Fiber.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

In relation to the Declarations of Interests from the Russian collaborators from SRIOH (Dr Evgeny Kovalevskiy; EK) and the Yekaterinburg Medical Research Center (Dr Sergey Kashansky; SK), the following was declared: EK and SK reported receiving, on behalf of their institutes and personally through consulting firms, payments from companies to evaluate exposure to asbestos and risk of asbestos-related disease in those workplaces. EK and SK reported attending meetings organized by the International Chrysotile Association and reported that all expenses for attendance were paid by their respective institutes. EK reported participation as an occupational and environmental health expert as part of the delegation of the Russian Ministry of Health at multiple World Health Assembly meetings as well as at the Conference of the Parties to the Basel and Rotterdam Conventions. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Dust sampler heads and filters
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Fibre sampler cassette and filter
Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Fibre to dust ratios by unit: Mine
Figure 4:
Figure 4:
Fibre to dust ratios by unit: Factory 4 & 6
Figure 5:
Figure 5:
Annual Mean Dust Concentrations and Annual Estimated Mean Fibre Concentrations: Factories (1955–2001) and Mine (1964–2001)
Figure 6:
Figure 6:
Annual Mean Dust Concentrations and Annual Estimated Mean Fibre Concentrations: Selected Mine Units 1964–2001
Figure 7:
Figure 7:
Annual Mean Dust Concentrations and Annual Estimated Mean Fibre Concentrations: Selected Factory Units 1959–2001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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