Mankar Priyanka, Mandal Bibhuti B, Chatterjee Debasis
National Institute of Miners' Health, Nagpur, India.
Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India.
J Health Pollut. 2019 Aug 6;9(23):190904. doi: 10.5696/2156-9614-9.23.190904. eCollection 2019 Sep.
Dust exposure and its related harmful effects on miners is a serious health issue.
The present study was undertaken to identify respirable dust concentrations and free silica content in 24 dust samples collected from a limestone mine during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons.
Time-weighted average (TWA) dust concentrations were calculated for 8-hour work shifts followed by determination of free silica concentration using the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy technique.
The TWA dust concentration for personal and area dust samples during September 2013 was found to be in the range of 0.32-1.04 mg/m and 0.25-0.54 mg/m, respectively. For February 2014, the TWA dust concentration was between 0.62-1.23 mg/m for personal samples and 1.04-2.64 mg/m for area samples. Samples collected in February 2014 had marginally higher values of dust levels in the air of the mine compared to September 2013. The highest dust concentration was found to be 1.23 mg/m for a drill operator and 2.64 mg/m at the crusher belt conveyor junction. The average free silica percent for the samples collected in February 2014 was 1.73%, which was almost double compared to September 2013 (0.87%).
In both seasons, personal dust samples had higher free silica content than area dust samples. Even though dust concentrations were below the permissible limit, workers had widely different exposures, hence many of them may be at risk of pneumoconiosis when exposure is prolonged.
Obtained.
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
粉尘暴露及其对矿工的相关有害影响是一个严重的健康问题。
本研究旨在确定在季风季节前和季风季节后从一个石灰石矿采集的24个粉尘样本中的可吸入粉尘浓度和游离二氧化硅含量。
计算8小时轮班的时间加权平均（TWA）粉尘浓度，然后使用傅里叶变换红外光谱技术测定游离二氧化硅浓度。
2013年9月个人粉尘样本和区域粉尘样本的TWA粉尘浓度分别在0.32 - 1.04毫克/立方米和0.25 - 0.54毫克/立方米范围内。2014年2月，个人样本的TWA粉尘浓度在0.62 - 1.23毫克/立方米之间，区域样本的TWA粉尘浓度在1.04 - 2.64毫克/立方米之间。与2013年9月相比，2014年2月采集的样本中矿井空气中的粉尘水平略高。最高粉尘浓度在一名钻机操作员处为1.23毫克/立方米，在破碎机皮带输送机连接处为2.64毫克/立方米。2014年2月采集的样本的平均游离二氧化硅百分比为1.73%，几乎是2013年9月（0.87%）的两倍。
在两个季节中，个人粉尘样本的游离二氧化硅含量均高于区域粉尘样本。尽管粉尘浓度低于允许限值，但工人的暴露程度差异很大，因此当暴露时间延长时，他们中的许多人可能有患尘肺病的风险。
已获得。
作者声明不存在竞争性财务利益。
