Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.2478/aiht-2024-75-3905
Occupational exposure to carcinogenic wood dust in two Italian biomass power plants
Giovanna Bregante
; Pio XI Hospital, Clinical Unit of Occupational Health, Desio, Italy
Marta Carcano
; Pio XI Hospital, Clinical Unit of Occupational Health, Desio, Italy
Elisa Galbiati
; Pio XI Hospital, Clinical Unit of Occupational Health, Desio, Italy
Arturo Baj
; Pio XI Hospital, Clinical Unit of Occupational Health, Desio, Italy
Marco Pettazzoni
; Pio XI Hospital, Clinical Unit of Occupational Health, Desio, Italy
Paolo Mascagni
; Pio XI Hospital, Clinical Unit of Occupational Health, Desio, Italy
Abstract
In this study we monitored exposure to airborne dust in workers performing various tasks at two biomass-fuelled thermal power plants (27 and 46 MW) over six years. The plants are mainly fuelled by forest wood chips and, to a lesser extent, by agro-food products, with annual consumption of about 300 and 450 kt. We focused on inhalable wood dust because of its potential carcinogenicity to humans. Worker exposure was assessed with personal samplers, drawing ambient air in their breathing zone to determine the real external dose of dust inhaled by the workers and the associated occupational risk. With but a few exceptions, exposure to inhalable wood dust complies to the limit of 2 mg/m³ given by the European Directives 2019/130 and 2017/2398. Further investigations will be necessary to obtain a larger number of measurements that allow for a more robust statistical investigation of the results.
Keywords
air monitoring; personal samplers; occupational health; risk assessment
Hrčak ID:
324308
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2024.
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