[Wood dust exposure in handicraft companies in Lazio: preliminary findings]

The aim of this study is to evaluate the wood dust exposures characterizing the working more to risk. Two selectors for inhalable fraction were been used: IOM sampler (Institute Occupational Medicine) and conical sampler. The sampling time is choosen by environmental airborne dust and it has varied around three and four hours. The surveys involved some companies of the Lazio that carried out the second working of wood that predict the transformation in ultimate products. The woodworking processes investigated have been grouped in three different classes: wood dissection; planning and moulding; sanding. The results have shown that the medium concentration of wood dusts, obtained in three processes investigated ranges from 2 mg/m3 to 4 mg/m3. The higher amounts is of 16 mg/m3 and it have been obtained during the sanding. Moreover the dust collected by IOM sampler was always higher than by conical sampler probably it is due to large particulates that were projected into IOM causing an overestimate of the amount of wood dust particulate that was inhalable. This study need to of more personal sampling for being able to carry out an exhaustive statistical analysis.