Construction includes many processes where respirable inorganic dust containing crystalline silica is generated. Exposure to silica in concentration above the Swedish occupational exposure limit value (OEL) is connected to severe health hazards, such as risk of developing silicosis, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as well as cardiovascular and rheumatic diseases. Constructions workers have a high risk of exposure to silica. Measurement of workers exposure to silica and measurement of what concentrations occur during different work tasks is essential as a basis for decisions about what control measures are needed to protect the workers. The methods used to measure the concentration of respirable organic dust and silica were developed during the 1970ies and 1980ies. The methods require a lot of time and the result of the measurements are usually presented several weeks after the measurement was conducted. In practice, the work tasks during which the measurements were conducted have often ceased before getting the results from the measurements. In addition, expert knowledge is often required both for the measurements and the analysis. Therefore, the construction industry has pointed out the need for modern, fast and cheap methods to measure silica exposure. The aim is to be able to measure the exposure to respirable dust and silica, the results of which can be used as a basis for risk assessments. Direct-reading instruments is an interesting option which should be evaluated. Available and used measuring methods have been reviewed and methods under development have been searched for. The review shows that the only currently available method which can be used to measure respirable silica is filter sampling followed by field analyses with a portable FTIR-instrument. The cost for such an instrument is currently between 150 000 and 300 000 SEK. An alternative method, which has focus on controlling exposure to high concentrations of dust instead of measuring exposure, is measurements with an instrument measuring the number and mass of particles. These instruments are used to identify work tasks generating high concentrations of dust, which moves focus from exposure and comparison with OEL to identifying and controlling the emissions of dust. There are several different instruments available at different prices, ranging from 50 000 SEK and upwards. This type of measurement require presence during the working day in order to facilitate identification of the cause of temporary high concentrations of dust, i.e. what work tasks are generating the high concentrations. Within IVL, a parallel project is currently ongoing about so called reference measurements for silica in the construction industry. Reference measurements are measurements made under well-defined circumstances, which can be used as a basis for risk assessment in other companies, provided the circumstances are similar. In that project, direct-reading instruments for measurement of respirable dust have been used in a way which resembles the description above. The result from that projekt will be published in a separate report this year (2019).
The most important parameters that influence the air quality in vehicles are the choice of cabin air filter and the air quality outside the vehicle. Real-life driving test methods for measurement in traffic environments developed in AQIFOR project showed repeatable differences between the reduction efficiency of the various cabin air filters in the car ventilation systems. Additional parameters that affected the reduction efficiency for air pollutants in the vehicle were ventilation speed and degree of air recirculation in the ventilation. Different air pollutants are affected differently. All filters tested purified air from particles; the reduction efficiency for PM2.5 was from 40% to over 80% for different filters, particles in the size range 10 - 600 nm were more difficult to clean than larger particles. Filters containing active carbon also purified the air from NO2; reduction efficiency showed similar pattern to reduction efficiency for particles. Sampling for VOC and PAH showed that volatiles are not purified by filters, but the less volatile species are effectively reduced. The project also investigated occupational exposure of professional drivers to air pollution in both passenger cars and trucks. The results showed that the drivers' exposure to benzo (a) pyrene, 1,3-butadiene and benzene was low, well below the working environment limit values.
Denna studie syftar till att skapa förbättrade förutsättningar att ta hand om uttjänta PVC-produkter i samhället på ett resurseffektivt och kemikaliesäkert sätt. Därför har studien försökt kartlägga den upplagrade mängder PVC-produkter i samhället tillsammans med en kartläggning av när olika additiv har använts. Studien har också försökt uppskatta när produkterna blir avfall. Särskilt fokus har lagts på att identifiera förekomst och mängder av PVC-produkter som innehåller additiv som idag regleras, eller är på gång att regleras, genom kemikalielagstiftningen REACH eller som av andra skäl inte längre används. Studien har begränsats till ett antal produktgrupper som bedöms som viktiga och intressanta att studera. Dessa produktgrupper är rör, kablar, profiler, golv- och väggmattor samt takduk. Kartläggningen har gjorts genom intervjuer med erfarna nuvarande och tidigare medarbetare på företag som tillverkar de undersökta produkterna, och underleverantörer till dessa företag. Kompletteringar har gjorts via informationssammanställning och datainsamling från företags och branschföreningars statistik och register. Även statistik från Statistiska Centralbyrån och Kemikalieinspektionen (KemI) har inhämtats.