Retrospective exposure assessment to airborne asbestos among power industry workers

Table 2 Power generation workers: similar exposure groups, cumulative exposures and job tasks (n = 5284; 94% of the total group). Evaluable data on specific job tasks were available in 70% (n = 3696) of the 5284 workers with usable data

Exposure group	n (%)	Age^g	Exposed^h	Fibre-	Revisions^k	Removal^k	Spraying^k	Gaskets^l	Packs^l	Mats^l	Gauges^l	Wires^l
		(years)	(years)	years ⁱ	(%) ^m	(%) ^m	(%) ^m	(%) ^m	(%) ^m	(%) ^m	(%) ^m	(%) ^m
Metalworker^a	1600 (30)	54 (12)	21 (11)	79 (195)	75	28	7	65	56	37	46	5
Electrician^b	652 (13)	52 (12)	20 (11)	33 (132)	63	11	1	16	7	12	18	67
Plant operator^c	1588 (30)	56 (12)	20 (10)	26 (77)	51	24	4	28	23	27	21	6
Other craftsman^d	601 (11)	52 (11)	18 (10)	21 (70)	47	17	2	24	19	22	17	14
Supervisor^e	210 (4)	57 (10)	19 (10)	27 (99)	43	12	2	14	12	13	11	9
Other occupation^f	633 (12)	59 (11)	21 (10)	22 (74)	50	14	4	22	19	19	21	12
Total	5284 (100)	56 (12)	20 (11)	42 (134)	59	21	4	36	30	26	28	15

^a including welder, insulator, mechanic
^b including communications technician
^c including system controller, boiler operator
^d for example roofer, pipefitter, car mechanic, mason, gauge mechanic, turner, smelter, fire fighter, driver, painter, warehouseman, forklift operator
^e present in the contaminated area, but not executing manual work, for example civil engineer, work planner
^f for example security personnel, office staff, receptionist
^g age at fixed reference date 1 September 2002, standard deviation in parentheses
^h periods of asbestos exposure from self administered data sheets, standard deviation in parentheses
ⁱ cumulative asbestos exposure calculated for a standard airborne concentration of 1 × 10⁶ fibres per cubic metre, standard deviation in parentheses
^k actively involved in revision of steam turbines, particularly removal of asbestos lagging and spraying of asbestos pulp
^l tooling and handling of asbestos containing gaskets, packings and gauges, removal of asbestos mats, maintenance of heat resistant wires
^m percent of exposure group with evaluable data executing specific job task

ISSN: 1745-6673