The Importance of Prevention When Working with Hazardous Materials in the Case of Serpentinite and Asbestos When Cleaning Monuments for Restoration

Abstract

Health risks are often overlooked when the consequences are not evident in the short term. In restoration work, some activities can generate particles that may affect the health of workers through inhalation (e.g., cleaning of buildings or heritage artifacts composed of stone). Workers at quarries are also exposed to such materials and, therefore, the results of our work can help to increase the risk perception in workers from the stone sector, but also in construction workers in an environment associated with dust. To demonstrate the importance of protection to prevent health hazards, we laser-ablated some samples of serpentinite that contain serpentine minerals as major phase minerals. The powder obtained in filters coupled to the ablation laser was analysed, using tools such as an optical microscope, X-ray powder diffraction, a transmission electron microscope and thermal analysis. The results were very didactic, and the intention is to use them, by way of graphics and diagrams, to build information security sheets that will alert workers to the need of using masks when working, or to use tools with coupled filters such as the one used for our study. The main goal is to demonstrate that the interdisciplinary combination of scientific approaches can be used for the sake of human health.

Petrography, Geochemistry and Mineralogy of Serpentinite Rocks Exploited in the Ophiolite Units at the Calabria-Basilicata Boundary, Southern Apennine (Italy)

“…Despite being widely used and marketed as dimension stone, serpentinite rocks may go through various modifications after their "switch in service" from natural occurrences (i.e., ophiolite outcrops) to building and construction materials. A detailed characterization under the petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical points of view permits, on the one hand, to avoid and prevent unexpected behavior of serpentinites used as building stones; on the other hand, it provides a useful tool from an univocal identification of serpentinite employed in the monuments, in term of provenance [12,13]. This is also a prominent point for the serpentinite rocks that crop out in the Basilicata region since they were exploited and marketed up to the recent past as dimension stones; indeed, they may still constitute an important resource, provided that their characterization is strictly essential and must forerun their use as construction and/or conservation-restoration material, in the frame of architectonic and cultural heritage.…”

“…Because of their unique aesthetic features and to their mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexibility, high thermal stability, serpentinite rocks are extensively used, used as building and construction stones and, for this reason, they have been important natural georesources for many countries where they crop out and may be exploited (e.g., [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]). It is worth noting that serpentinite rocks may present concerns related to asbestos minerals that, related to the exploitation process and the "change in service" from the natural outcrops to monuments and buildings, may be released into the environment and pose health issues.…”