engleski

The concentration of total and asbestos fibers in the air in the city of Karlovac, Ploča and Vranjic

In order to determine the concentration of asbestos fibres in air from three locations at the towns of Karlovac, Ploče and Vranjic was sampled. Locations were near the police building and the train station of town Ploče, near the football field at Vranjic, and the nearby kindergarten at Karlovac. Sampling was conducted during dry, stable and sunny weather without precipitation. Samples were analyzed by means of polarized light microscopy (PLM). Samples of air were taken at the height of the breathing zone starting from the ground. The concentration of total and asbestos fibers was determined using membrane filter method. The analysis showed the presence of asbestos fibers in the air of respirable size at the location near the building of the police and railway station at Ploče and near the football field at Vranjic. At the location near the police building and the train station measured concentrations of total fibers of 0.007 fibers/cm3 of air, while the concentration of asbestos fibers was 0.002 fibers/cm3. At the location near the football field Vranjic the concentration of the total fibers was 0.003 fibers/cm3 and asbestos fiber concentration was 0.001 fibers/cm3 of air. At the location near kindergarten Karlovac, concentration of total fibers in air was 0.09 fibers/cm3, where the presence of asbestos fibers has not been determined. In Croatia, allowable values of respirable size of asbestos fibers in the air in the general environment are not prescribed. Obtained positive values of respirable asbestos fibres in the general environment in the city of Ploče and Vranjic are below that specified by the Croatian Occupational Safety and Health Law (O.G. 59/96, 94/96, 114/03 and 100/04), and the Risks related to exposure of workers to asbestos bylaw (O.G.40/07), where the Article 9. instructs that the eight-hour time-adjusted average single worker is allowedto be exposed to a concentration of asbestos in the air no more than 0.1 fibres per cm3.

PLM ; asbestos in air ; microscopy

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