Exposure of employees to man-made mineral fibers: Mineral wool production

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study in which employee exposure to mineral wool fibers in the mineral wool production industry was measured. Data for this study were collected in five plants operated by three different corporations. The results of the study indicate that the average exposure is about 0.1 to 0.5 fibers/ml. The results also indicate that despite operational diversities among the plants the size and length distributions of airborne fibers were consistent. It was also found that there is an excellent correlation between average total suspended particulate matter and average fiber exposure for types of work activity found in the plants.