• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.703-712
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• 1999

In order to determine the number concentration of asbestos, it is initially necessary to develop a method to identify the type of asbestos. Thus a SEM/EDX was used to obtain both physical and chemical information from known asbestos samples as reference samples. Based on these information, we could make a source profile matrix consisted of a glass fiber and 3 other types of asbestos such as chrysotile, crocidolite, and tremolite. After collinearity test was performed for these sources, we could successfully develop an expert system by C-language to separate and to identify various unknown types of fiber particles. The expert system was perfectly self-verified with original reference data. Then the program was extensively applied to survey indoor and outdoor environment such as a residential area, an elementary school, and underground store, and an auto junkyard. As a result for surveying, a total of 442 individual fibrous particles were well classified into 4 types of particle classes above mentioned; 5.4% of chrysotile, 4.1% of crocidolite, 3.6% of glass fiber, and 86.9% of unknown fibers in terms of number concentration. However, tremolite was not detected in the study sites. All the samples were satisfied with the recommendation level of 0.01 f/cc.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2011

Objectives: This investigation is purposed to evaluate the airborne asbestos concentrations in the public buildings having asbestos containing materials(ACMs) in Seoul. Methods: The Seoul Metropolitan Government carried out an asbestos survey to the city-owned public buildings to identify the level of risk exposure, classified into low, moderate and high risk. To evaluate the airborne concentration of asbestos, 11 sampling sites in ten buildings based on the survey were selected. The air samples from the eleven sites were analyzed by Phase Contrast Microscopy(PCM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and compared the analytical results from the both. Results: 1. The airborne fiber concentrations by PCM were less than the detection limit($7f/mm^2$) in 9(82%) out of 11 sampling sites. The highest concentration was 0.0043 f/cc, but it was below the guideline value for indoor air quality(0.01 f/cc), proposed by the Ministry of Environment, Korea. 2. In two sampling sites, having moderate risk level, the chrysotile was identified and showed it's concentrations of 0.0102 s/cc and 0.0058 s/cc, less than $5{\mu}m$ lengths. 3. The ACMs identified in the two sampling sites were a packing material(65% of chrysotile) in mechanical area and a thermal system insulation(5% of chrysotile) in a boiler room. Having more possibility of asbestos emission in the mechanical area, it would be required to set up and carry out the asbestos management plan. Conclusions: Based on the result of this study, the airborne asbestos concentrations in the public buildings with ACMs were generally lower than the guideline value for indoor air quality. There are widespread concerns about the possible health risk resulting from the presence of airborne asbestos fibers in the public buildings. Most of the previous studies about airborne asbestos analysis in Korea were performed based on PCM method that asbestos and non-asbestos fibers are counted together. In the public and commercial buildings, having ACMs, it is suggested that the asbestos be analyzed by TEM method to identify asbestos due to concerns about asbestos exposure to workers and unspecified people.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.279-284
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• 2008

This paper aims to provide basic data for work environment control, prevention of worker exposure to asbestos and improvement of air quality to protect workers ‘health after measuring the level of airborne asbestos and workers' exposure in a shipbuilding repair businesses. For this study, a total of 27 samples were collected from 27 workers who had been exposed to asbestos during engine, piping, boiler and other manufacturing processes in 'A' Shipbuilding Repair Company in Gyeongnam. This research was conducted from Oct. 1 to 30, 2007 and had the following results: The target group (27 workers) consisted of all men with an average age of 35.9 years and 6.6 years of work on average. Among them, fifteen 15 (55.6%) were smokers. In terms of their duties at work, there were 12 plumbing repair engineers (44.4%), 8 boiler repair engineers (29.6%) and 7 engine engineers (25.9%). The geometric mean concentration of airborne asbestos was 0.004 f/cc. A total of 4 samples exceeded the exposure limit. In particular, three exceeded the legal limit by more than double, which means that some workers have been highly exposed to asbestos. In terms of the concentration of asbestos fibres by work process, plumbing repair was the highest (0.0071 f/cc($0.001{\sim}0.57\;f/cc$)) while boiler was the lowest (0.0015 f/cc($0.001{\sim}0.007\;f/cc$)). Based on this study, proper action needs to be taken as soon as possible to protect workers from the threat of asbestos.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.1069-1078
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• 2012

This study was performed to evaluate the asbestos exposure levels and to calculate excess lifetime cacer risks(ELCRs) in asbestos-containing buildings for maintenance and management. The range of airborne asbestos concentration of 33 buildings was 0.0018 ~ 0.0126 f/cc and one site exceeded indoor air-quality recommended limit 0.01 f/cc. And ELCRs based on US EPA IRIS(Integrated risk information system) model are 1.5E-06 ~ 3.9E-05 levels, and there was no site showed 1.0E-04 (one person per million) level or more, and 11 sites showed 1.0E-05 (one person per 100,000 people) level or more. To prevent the release of asbestos fibers, it needs operation and maintenance of asbestos-containing building materials, and there are some methods such as removal, repairment, enclosure and encapsulation. In conclusion, a risk-based air action level for asbestos in air is an appropriate metric for asbestos-containing building management.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.307-320
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• 2009

This study was conducted not only to review airborne asbestos levels reported in workplaces in Korea, but also to analyze their levels according to various characteristics All asbestos concentration reported as either geometric mean (GM) and geometric standard deviation (GSD) or ranges were transformed to arithmetic mean to estimate exposure level. In addition, weighted arithmetic means (WAMs) were calculated to weigh asbestos levels based on the different number of samples. Differences of asbestos levels among several characteristics such as industry type, decade, operation and sampling and analytical methods were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The number of articles studying asbestos levels from workplaces was found to be 9 including two report types. Five of those were reported prior to 1990s and rest of them after 1990s. Only several industries such as asbestos textile, asbestos cement, brake-lining repair shops were studied, while various industries using asbestos or asbestos containing materials (ACMs) were not studied. ANOVA found that asbestos exposure levels (WAM = 5.26f/cc) reported from textile industry were significantly higher than those from other industries (cement = 0.63f/cc, brake-lining = 0.2f/cc - 0.47f/cc) (p < 0.0001). Average exposure levels studied prior to the 1990s (3.13f/cc) were found to be significantly higher than that (0.86f/cc) after the 1990s (p<0.0001). All WAMs reported until the 1994 were found to be higher than the current occupational exposure limits (0.1f/cc). This study recommends that retrospective exposure to asbestos based on various industry types and operations should be assessed.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.346-356
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• 2008

Asbestos is the name of a group of minerals with long and thin fibers that originate naturally in the environment. Asbestos mainly affects lungs and the membrane that surrounds the lungs. In general, PCM (phase contrast microscopy) and PLM (polarized light microscopy) have been used to analyze asbestos fibers. However, these methods have often problems to over-estimate number concentration when counting real asbestos fibers. Moreover, there are many difficulties when separating and identifying various asbestos and non-asbestos fibers. In order to determine quantitative information on fibrous particles, source profiles for asbestos and non-asbestos fibers must be initially developed on the basis of their chemical compositions and physical parameters. In our study, a SEM/EDX was used to develop source profiles from known asbestos samples as reference samples. We could make the source profile matrix consisting of 6 types of asbestos fibers and 2 types of non-asbestos fibers by analyzing 380 fibers. Based on these profiles, a rule building expert system was developed by using the visual basic application (VBA). Various fibers were successfully classified by 2 simple rules in the EXCEL environment based on several visual steps such as inserting data, viewing results, and saving results. For a case study to test the expert system, samples from a construction materials and from various indoor environments such as a residental area, a preschool classroom, and an underground store were collected and analyzed. As a result of the survey, a total of 76 individual test fiber particles was well classified into 5 different types of particle classes; 9.3% of chrysotile, 15.4% of amosite, 0.8 of crocidolite, 4.2% of tremolite, 5.8% glass fiber, 21.1% of other fibers, and 43.5% of unknown fibers in terms of number concentration. Even though unknown portion was high, it will be decreased markedly when expanding fiber source profiles.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.1579-1587
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• 2013

This study was performed to evaluate the asbestos exposure levels and to calculate excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) for the risk assessment of the asbestos fibers released from asbestos-cement slate roofing (ASR) building. Total number of ASR buildings was into 21,267 in Busan, and 82.03 percent of the buildings was residential houses, and 43.61 percent of the buildings was constructed in 1970s. For this study, ten buildings were selected randomly among the ASR buildings. The range of airborne asbestos concentration in the selected ten ASR buildings was from 0.0016 to 0.0067 f/mL, and the concentration around no-admitted ASR buildings was higher than that around admitted buildings. The ELCR based on US EPA IRIS (integrated risk information system) model is within 3.5E-05 ~ 1.5E-04 levels, and the ELCR of no-admitted ASR buildings was higher than 1.0E-04 (one person per million) level that is considered a more aggressive approach to mitigate risk. These results indicate that the cancer risk from ASR buildings is higher than other buildings, and systematic public management is required for control of no-admitted ASR buildings within near future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.144-153
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• 1991

This study was conducted to evaluate worker exposure to airborne asbestos fibers by industry, and to evaluate polarized-light microscopy for determining airborne asbestos fibers. A total of 11 plants including asbestos textile, brake-lining manufacturing, slate manufacturing, and automobile maintenance shops were investigated. Rsults of the study are summarized as follows. 1. Worker exposure levels to airborne asbestos fibers were the highest in asbestos textile industry, followed by brake-lining manufacturing, slate manufacturing, and automobile maintenance shops, in order. In asbestos textile industry, large variation of asbestos levels was found by plants. The worst plant indicated airborne fiber concentrations in excess of 10 fibers/cc, however, the best plant showed concentrations within 0.50 fibers/cc. 2. Characterization of airborne fibers by industry indicated that fibers from asbestos textile industry were the longest with the largest aspect ratio. Fibers from automobile maintenance shops were the shortest with the smallest aspect ratio. Based on characteristics of fibers and the highest levels of concentrations, it is concluded that workers in the asbestos textile industry are exposed to the highest risk of producing asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. 3. Result s obtained using polarized-light microscopy were $43.7{\pm}12.3%$ of the results obtained using phase contrast microscopy. This may be resulted from the worse resolution of polarized-light microscopy than that of phase contrast microscopy. Based on the results, it is recommended that polarized-light microscopy be used for mainly bulk sample analyses and further study be performed to improve the method for determining airborne samples. However, polarized-light microscopy can be used for determining thick fibers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2014

Objectives: This study is intended to seek credible and efficient measurements on airborne asbestos concentrations that allow immediate action by establishing complementary data through comparative analysis with existing PCM and KF-100 method real-time monitoring equipment in working areas in Seoul where asbestos-containing buildings are being demolished, including living environment surroundings. Materials: We measured airborne asbestos concentrations using PCM and KF-100 at research institutes, monitoring networks, subway stations and demolition sites of asbestos-containing buildings. Through this measurement data and KF-100 performance testing, we drew a conversion factor and applied it via KF-100. Finally we verified the relationship between PCM and KF-100 with statistical methods. Results: The airborne asbestos concentrations by PCM for the objects of study were less than the detection limit(7 fiber/$mm^2$) in three (20%) out of 15 samples. The highest concentration was 0.009 f/cc. The airborne asbestos concentrations by PCM in laboratories, monitoring networks, subway stations and demolition sites of asbestos-containing buildings were respectively $0.002{\pm}0.000$ f/cc, $0.004{\pm}0.001$ f/cc, $0.009{\pm}0.001$ f/cc, and $0.002{\pm}0.000$ f/cc. As a result of KF-100 performance testson rooftops, the conversion factor was 0.1958. Applying the conversion factor to KF-100 for laboratories, the airborne asbestos concentrations ratio of the two ways was nearly 1:1.5($R^2$=0.8852). Also,the airborne asbestos concentration ratio of the two ways was nearly 1:1($R^2$=0.9071) for monitoring networks, subway stations, and demolition sites of asbestos-containing buildings. As a result of independent sample t-tests, there was no distinction between airborne asbestos concentrations monitored in the two ways. Conclusions: In working areas where asbestos-containing buildings are being demolished, including living environment surroundings, quickly and accurately monitoring airborne asbestos scattered in the air around the working area is highly important. For this, we believea mutual interface of existing PCM and a real-time monitoring equipment method is possible.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.184-193
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• 2015

Objectives: This study focused on three aspects: characterizing concentrations of airborne particles by size distributions and asbestos fibers generated by various building materials; analyzing the characteristics of fibers produced by each simulation and asbestos fibers released from ACBMs; and investigating correlations of airborne asbestos fibers and particles generated and association of particle and asbestos concentrations. Methods: We selected three ACBMs including an insulation board, cement asbestos slate and wallboard. We constructed 4 scenarios; a) crushing with a hammer; b) cutting with a industrial knife; c) brushing with a metal brush; and d) tightening & loosening with a hand drill. We implemented one simulation for 30 seconds followed by 30 seconds resting period. We repeated a total of 5 cycles for 5 minutes. Results: The highest concentration of particulate & fibrous matters was from crushing with a hammer in each scenario followed by brushing with a metal brush, cutting with a industrial knife, and tightening & loosening with a hand drill. For ACBMs studied, asbestos concentrations were highest from an insulation board followed by cement asbestos slate, and wallboard. No difference in terms of concentration was found between an insulation board and asbestos slate. Fibers with $5{\sim}20{\mu}m$ in length were included in 76~90% of total fibrous matters. The distribution of the straight form fibers was greater than that of the curl form. About 90% of $PM_{Total}$ released from ACBMs was consisted of $PM_{10}$ while only 10% of $PM_{Total}$ was $PM_{2.5}$. Particulate matters like $PM_{2.5}$ was significantly correlated with fibrous matters($R^2=0.81$). Conclusions: We found ACBMs can significantly release asbestos fibers as well as $PM_{2.5}$. Concentrations of asbestos generated by ACBMs were well correlated with $PM_{2.5}$.