Silica Exposure and Silicosis among Ontario Hardrock Miners: II. Exposure Estimates

Authors

D. K. Verma, Occupational Health Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, OntarioFollow
A. Sebestyen, Occupational Health Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
J. A. Julian, Occupational Health Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
D. C. F. Muir, Occupational Health Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, OntarioFollow
H. Schmidt, Occupational Health Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
Charles D. Bernholz, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
H. S. Shannon, Occupational Health Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, OntarioFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

1-29-1989

Comments

Published in American Journal of Industrial Medicine 16 (1989), pp. 13–28. Copyright © 1989 Alan R. Liss, Inc./John Wiley & Sons. Used by permission. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/34471

Abstract

An epidemiological investigation was carried out to determine the relationship between silicosis in hardrock miners in Ontario and cumulative exposure to silica (free crystalline silica-α quartz) dust. This second report describes a side-by-side air-sampling program used to derive a konimeter/gravimetric silica conversion curve. A total of 2,360 filter samples and 90,000 konimeter samples were taken over 2 years in two mines representing the ore types gold and uranium, both in existing conditions as well as in an experimental stope in which dry drilling was used to simulate the high dust conditions of the past. The method of calculating cumulative respirable silica exposure indices for each miner is reported.