15 years of monitoring occupational exposure to respirable dust and quartz within the European industrial minerals sector.

Abstract

In 2000, a prospective Dust Monitoring Program (DMP) was started in which measurements of worker's exposure to respirable dust and quartz are collected in member companies from the European Industrial Minerals Association (IMA-Europe). After 15 years, the resulting IMA-DMP database allows a detailed overview of exposure levels of respirable dust and quartz over time within this industrial sector. Our aim is to describe the IMA-DMP and the current state of the corresponding database which due to continuation of the IMA-DMP is still growing. The future use of the database will also be highlighted including its utility for the industrial minerals producing sector. Exposure data are being obtained following a common protocol including a standardized sampling strategy, standardized sampling and analytical methods and a data management system. Following strict quality control procedures, exposure data are consequently added to a central database. The data comprises personal exposure measurements including auxiliary information on work and other conditions during sampling. Currently, the IMA-DMP database consists of almost 28,000 personal measurements which have been performed from 2000 until 2015 representing 29 half-yearly sampling campaigns. The exposure data have been collected from 160 different worksites owned by 35 industrial mineral companies and comes from 23 European countries and approximately 5000 workers. The IMA-DMP database provides the European minerals sector with reliable data regarding worker personal exposures to respirable dust and quartz. The database can be used as a powerful tool to address outstanding scientific issues on long-term exposure trends and exposure variability, and importantly, as a surveillance tool to evaluate exposure control measures. The database will be valuable for future epidemiological studies on respiratory health effects and will allow for estimation of quantitative exposure response relationships.