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Characterization and Hazard Identification of Respirable Cement and Concrete Dust from Construction Activities

Construction is an important segment of the economy that employs millions of people. Construction dust is an occupational health hazard to millions of construction workers worldwide. The hazards associated with respirable dust depend upon its particulate size distribution and chemical composition, a...

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Autores principales: Gharpure, Akshay, Heim, James William, Vander Wal, Randy L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8508395/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34639428
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910126
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author Gharpure, Akshay
Heim, James William
Vander Wal, Randy L.
author_facet Gharpure, Akshay
Heim, James William
Vander Wal, Randy L.
author_sort Gharpure, Akshay
collection PubMed
description Construction is an important segment of the economy that employs millions of people. Construction dust is an occupational health hazard to millions of construction workers worldwide. The hazards associated with respirable dust depend upon its particulate size distribution and chemical composition, as these determine the deposition pattern in the respiratory tract and reactivity, respectively. This study presents characterization of the size and composition of the dust from two key construction materials—cast cement and poured concrete. The dust was generated by cutting the cured cement and concrete blocks using an 18” hand-held circular saw as used in highway and building construction. Transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and laser diffraction were performed for the size analysis of the particles. Energy dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used for chemical analysis. X-ray diffraction was used for phase identification. Electron diffraction patterns were obtained to assess the crystallinity of individual particles. They confirm the crystallinity of particles of different size and shapes. With a particle size range between 0.5 μm and 10 μm, greater than 90% of particles fell below 2.5 μm, presenting a respirable health concern. Crystalline compounds including the metals Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, Na, and K were detected. The concrete particles were most enriched in crystalline silica with a concentration of more than 30% by weight. The presence of metals and high crystalline silica content pose a serious health concern to construction workers.
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spelling pubmed-85083952021-10-13 Characterization and Hazard Identification of Respirable Cement and Concrete Dust from Construction Activities Gharpure, Akshay Heim, James William Vander Wal, Randy L. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Construction is an important segment of the economy that employs millions of people. Construction dust is an occupational health hazard to millions of construction workers worldwide. The hazards associated with respirable dust depend upon its particulate size distribution and chemical composition, as these determine the deposition pattern in the respiratory tract and reactivity, respectively. This study presents characterization of the size and composition of the dust from two key construction materials—cast cement and poured concrete. The dust was generated by cutting the cured cement and concrete blocks using an 18” hand-held circular saw as used in highway and building construction. Transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and laser diffraction were performed for the size analysis of the particles. Energy dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used for chemical analysis. X-ray diffraction was used for phase identification. Electron diffraction patterns were obtained to assess the crystallinity of individual particles. They confirm the crystallinity of particles of different size and shapes. With a particle size range between 0.5 μm and 10 μm, greater than 90% of particles fell below 2.5 μm, presenting a respirable health concern. Crystalline compounds including the metals Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, Na, and K were detected. The concrete particles were most enriched in crystalline silica with a concentration of more than 30% by weight. The presence of metals and high crystalline silica content pose a serious health concern to construction workers. MDPI 2021-09-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8508395/ /pubmed/34639428 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910126 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gharpure, Akshay
Heim, James William
Vander Wal, Randy L.
Characterization and Hazard Identification of Respirable Cement and Concrete Dust from Construction Activities
title Characterization and Hazard Identification of Respirable Cement and Concrete Dust from Construction Activities
title_full Characterization and Hazard Identification of Respirable Cement and Concrete Dust from Construction Activities
title_fullStr Characterization and Hazard Identification of Respirable Cement and Concrete Dust from Construction Activities
title_full_unstemmed Characterization and Hazard Identification of Respirable Cement and Concrete Dust from Construction Activities
title_short Characterization and Hazard Identification of Respirable Cement and Concrete Dust from Construction Activities
title_sort characterization and hazard identification of respirable cement and concrete dust from construction activities
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8508395/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34639428
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910126
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