School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, 553 St Kilda Road, Melbourne 3004, Australia.
Ann Work Expo Health. 2022 Jan 7;66(1):5-13. doi: 10.1093/annweh/wxab044.
Silicosis is being increasingly reported among young stonemasons in the artificial stone (AS) benchtop fabrication and installation industry. Respiratory health screening, which included a job and exposure history, a chest X-ray (CXR), a respiratory health questionnaire, and gas transfer testing, were offered to stonemasons in Victoria, Australia. Workers typically reported a variety of tasks, including cleaning and labouring, which made exposure assessment complex. We estimated the relative respirable crystalline silica exposure intensity of each job from the proportion of time using AS and the proportion of time doing dry work (work without water suppression). The relative average intensity of exposure for up to five jobs was calculated. Cumulative exposure was calculated as the sum of the duration multiplied by intensity for each job. Installers and factory machinists (other than computer numeric control operators) were the most likely to report dry work with AS, and so had a greater average intensity of exposure. Exposure intensity and cumulative exposure were associated with increased odds of an ILO (International Labour Organisation) CXR profusion major category of ≥1 and with dyspnoea. Exposure duration was also associated with ILO profusion category. In multivariate analyses of health outcomes, only job type was associated with the ILO profusion category. For both most recent and longest-duration job types, when compared to the lowest exposure group, factory machinists were more likely to have an ILO category ≥1. This suggests that intensity of exposure estimated from the proportion of time dry cutting and proportion of time working on AS can predict the risk of adverse respiratory outcomes for workers in this industry.
硅肺在人造石（AS）台面制作和安装行业的年轻石匠中越来越多地被报道。在澳大利亚维多利亚州，为石匠提供了呼吸健康筛查，包括工作和暴露史、胸部 X 光（CXR）、呼吸健康问卷和气体转移测试。工人们通常报告了各种各样的任务，包括清洁和劳动，这使得暴露评估变得复杂。我们根据使用 AS 的时间比例和干燥工作（无水抑制的工作）的时间比例，从每个工作中估计相对可呼吸结晶二氧化硅暴露强度。计算了多达五个工作的相对平均暴露强度。累积暴露量是每个工作的持续时间乘以强度的总和。安装工和工厂机械师（除计算机数控操作员外）最有可能报告使用 AS 的干燥工作，因此暴露强度更大。暴露强度和累积暴露量与国际劳工组织（ILO）CXR 弥漫度≥1和呼吸困难的几率增加相关。暴露持续时间也与 ILO 弥漫度类别相关。在健康结果的多变量分析中，只有工作类型与 ILO 弥漫度类别相关。对于最近和最长工作时间的工作类型，与最低暴露组相比，工厂机械师更有可能出现 ILO 类别≥1。这表明，从干燥切割时间比例和使用 AS 时间比例估计的暴露强度可以预测该行业工人不良呼吸结果的风险。
