title: Chrysotile asbestos exposure in the manufacturing of thermal insulating boards.
abstract: Exposure to asbestos fibers has been extensively studied in milling, mining of asbestos fibers, and in industries manufacturing asbestos-cement sheets, pipes, etc. However, very few studies have been reported in asbestos textiles, brake lining workers, and insulation products. In the present investigation, chrysotile exposure monitoring was carried out in a small thermal insulating boards manufacturing facility. Twenty-eight samples were analyzed from various locations like feeding of raw materials, weighing, pressing, machine grinding, and hand finishing of final products. Twenty-five percent of the samples were found to be above ACGIH TLV of 0.1 fibers per milliliter. However, mean fiber concentrations were found to be lower than 0.1 fibers per milliliter, except for the process of feeding of raw materials where the mean fiber concentration was 0.1087+/-0.0631 fibers per milliliter.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Meghani nagar, Ahmedabad, 380016, India. ljbhagia@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Bhagia
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Vyas
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Shaikh
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Dodia
mesh_terms: D001194:Asbestos / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D008906:Mining; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D001194:Asbestos