Factors Influencing Dust Exposure: Finishing Activities in Drywall Construction

Abstract

Sanding drywall joint compound is a dusty construction activity. We studied potential factors influencing exposure to respirable and total dust for sanders and bystanders in the area of drywall joint compound finishing in 17 test events within a room-scale isolation chamber. We found the air change rate to be negatively correlated with dust C(twa) both in the sander's personal breathing zone and surrounding area. We could not conclude that sanding tool type systematically influences dust C(twa), but the use of 80-grit abrasive was associated with the highest dust C(twa). We found respirable dusts were uniformly dispersed 1-8.2 m from sanding activities at a fixed location. As anticipated, both respirable and total dust C(twa) in the sander's personal breathing zone are higher than in the surrounding area. The respirable fraction of the total dust mass C(twa) was greater in the surrounding area than in the sander's personal breathing zone. Respirable dust concentrations measured in real time increased over the duration of sanding, exhibiting a temporal trend that is similar to that predicted by the well-mixed box model with contaminant removal by mechanical ventilation only, and continuous emission. Dust concentrations returned to pre-activity (background) levels 2-4 hr after cessation of the sanding activity.

Comparative Risks of Cancer from Drywall Finishing Based on Stochastic Modeling of Cumulative Exposures to Respirable Dusts and Chrysotile Asbestos Fibers

“…The proportion of time spent on each activity by a work crew was consistent across the field sites, with workers spending 4-11% of project time sanding joint compounds (Table I), and was within Values based on chamber test and field observations, (15) rather than chamber tests alone. (4) i Developed by Sheehan et al (16) the reported range of Fischbein et al (1) However, productivity (m 2 of drywall sanded per person-hour) varied among crews, and was highest at Sites 1 and 3 with bifurcated work crews (Table I). At Site 3, drywall finishers were brought onsite after drywall installation along the perimeter area was complete.…”

“…Current joint compounds are formulated with talc, silica, calcite, gypsum, and/or mica . Until the mid–1970s, however, some joint compounds contained chrysotile asbestos as a filler in the range of 5–15% by weight .…”

Exposures from Chrysotile‐Containing Joint Compound: Evaluation of New Model Relating Respirable Dust to Fiber Concentrations

“…An experienced tradesman sanded the wall continuously for eight minutes using a pole sander with 120grit sanding screen. During sanding, respirable dust mass concentrations were collected in the personal breathing zone (on the lapel) of the worker and at randomly selected fixed locations approximately 0.8-3 m from the center of the wall (Simmons et al (23) , Fig. 1).…”

“…Room ‐ scale chamber Three testing events were conducted in a 6.1‐m × 6.1‐m × 2.7‐m‐high room‐scale chamber. ( 23 ) A 1.2‐m‐wide × 2.4‐m‐high × 0.12‐m‐thick wall was framed, covered with drywall, and positioned in the center of the chamber. In each test, the drywall was evenly coated with JCN.…”

Comparative Emissions of Random Orbital Sanding between Conventional and Self-Generated Vacuum Systems

“…However, in 2010, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released a monograph indicating that titanium dioxide is possibly carcinogenic to humans based on sufficient evidence in experimental animals and inadequate evidence from epidemiological studies (World Health Organization, 2010). In addition to the three particles of concern for this study, additional studies have documented negative health outcomes that are associated with exposure to other occupational abrasion-related particles of concern (Siemiatycki et al, 1989; Simcox et al, 1999; Akbar-Khanzadeh and Brillhart, 2002; Woskie et al, 2004; Young-Corbett and Nussbaum, 2009; Simmons et al, 2011). …”