Abstract
The study refers on the main results of a research work that has been carried out by the Safety and Health group of the Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI) at the Politecnico di Torino, with reference to the substantial difference that exists between the case of an established absence of hazards due to the presence of noxious materials such asbestos, crystalline silica, in the rock mass to be excavated and the situations in which these minerals can be present. Since, when carcinogenic substances can be expected, corrective action following exposure or dispersion is clearly unacceptable, the presence of critical pollutants requires special preventive actions for the health of the workers and the muck which can introduce risks for the users (e.g., during mechanical processing involving feeding, crushing, milling, sizing and sorting operations) should not be considered for any reuse.
Highlights
Lead to the exposure of workers involved in both underground activities and in muck reuse plants
The study refers on the main results of a research work that has been carried out by the Safety and Health group of the Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI) at the Politecnico di Torino, with reference to the substantial difference that exists between the case of an established absence of hazards due to the presence of noxious materials such asbestos, crystalline silica, in the rock mass to be excavated and the situations in which these minerals can be present
The construction of mobility infrastructures requires special attention, as far as the safety of the workers and environment protection are concerned. These aspects are influenced to a great extent by the possible presence of hazardous minerals, such as asbestos (Fig. 1 summarizes the possible presence of asbestos in the western Alps) and crystalline silica-both classified as risk “1” by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
Summary
Lead to the exposure of workers involved in both underground activities and in muck reuse plants In the case of tunneling in rocks containing asbestos it should be pointed out that even though the rock winning technique involves a limited fragmentation and the percentage of asbestos is low (less than 1% in volume), the problem is not negligible; for example, in a tunnel with a cross-section of 100 m2, even a single 10 mm thick layer of serpentinite containing tremolite asbestos can disperse a rather impressive number of fibers (about 1*104) in the air of the tunnel These fibers, if not properly managed, can certainly lead to exposure levels for the workers that exceed the Safety and Health regulation limit values (according to European Directive 2009/148 (CEC, 2009), the limit value is 100 fb/dm measured by means of a PhaseContrast Microscope (PCM))
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