The performance of personal inhalable dust samplers in wood-products industry facilities

Recent guidelines for particulate matter and aerosol measurements in the workplace describe sampling criteria for three progressively finer particle-size-selective fractions: inhalable, thoracic, and respirable. For substances like wood dust, for which health concerns usually center on particles that enter and deposit within the nasal passages, the inhalable fraction, which by definition includes particles ranging from 0 to 100 microm in diameter, is of greatest interest. There are a variety of commercially available personal samplers that can be used to measure inhalable dust in the workplace. At this time, however, most of these samplers have received only limited field testing in wood-products facility workplaces. This study compared the performance of three different personal inhalable dust samplers and a personal total dust sampler in several different wood-products industry facilities. Specifically, the study provided information on sampler precision and the relationship between results obtained with the various personal samplers. The personal samplers that were evaluated were the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), the conical inhalable (CIS), and the multi-orifice (7-Hole) inhalable dust samplers and the closed-face filter cassette (CFFC) total dust sampler. Study results suggest that the CIS and CFFC may be more precise than the IOM and 7-hole samplers. Results also indicate that the relative performance of the inhalable samplers as compared to the total dust sampler may vary as a function of particle size distribution in the workplace.