title: Respirable quartz exposure on two medium-sized farms in southern Mozambique.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about the potential for overexposure to respirable quartz in farming, in most parts of the world.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To measure respirable dust and quartz exposure of tractor operators on two medium-sized dry climate farms.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of dust exposure of four tractor operators. Farms were selected by convenience sampling. The MDHS 14/3 and FTIR MDHS 101 HSE methods were used to measure dust and to analyze the mass of quartz in dust, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy respirable dust measurements were done. Respirable dust and quartz ranged from 0·01 to 2·88 and 0·001 to 0·30 mg/m(3), respectively. All operators had at least one respirable quartz exposure above 0·1 mg/m(3). Only 17% of respirable quartz concentrations were lower than the ACGIH TLV of 0·025 mg/m(3).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The potential for overexposure to respirable quartz was demonstrated. There was a great deal of exposure variability on these farms which has implications for sampling strategies for dust in farming.
authors.affiliation: University of Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique. jcffrank@yahoo.com
authors.forename: José C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Franque Mirembo
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Swanepoel
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rees
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000032:analysis*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009073:Mozambique / Q000453:epidemiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016272:Occupational Health; D010316:Particle Size; D011791:Quartz
chemical_list: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D004391:Dust; D011791:Quartz