Assessment of respiratory exposure of workers with airborne particles in a ceramic tile industry: a case study

Background and purpose: Particulate matter air pollution is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. By increasing the number of tile and ceramic industries in the two past decades, workers in these industries exposed to pathogenic respirable particulate matter pollutants. Therefore, this study aimed to assess respiratory exposure to airborne particles in a tile and ceramic factory was done.

In This observational study, sampling from Respiratory zone of 93 workers in a tile and ceramic industry for both respirable and inhalable particles were performed. Sampling of inhalable particle based on NIOSH_0500 protocol and respirable particles based on NIOSH_0600 was conducted. Data were analyzed by SPSS 22 software.

92.47 percent of Workers were exposed to respirable particles less than TLV and 39.8 percent of them were exposed to inhalable particles more than TLV. The maximum concentration of respirable particles 13.04 mg/m3 and inhalable particles 84.88 mg/m3 in respectively reported for crusher unit. The lowest concentration of respirable (0.41 mg/m3) and inhalable (min =1.74 mg/m3) particles were observed in coating line workers division.

Since the workers are exposed to concentrations more than threshold limit value of respirable particles, and especially inhalable particles in some units, appropriate control measures must be considered to prevent possible consequences.