Workers' health and safety conditions in the stone sector: a research program on noise and airborne dust technical evaluation and control

摘要

A more than two years research work is being carried on by the Department of Land, Environment and Geotechnology of Polytechnic of Torino in co-operation with the VCO ASL 14 S.Pre.SAL (a branch of the National Safety Bureau) in order to make available some suggestions of risk management aimed to improve the workers' health and safety conditions in the stone sector. The first steps of the research work consisted in a careful overview of both the technologies and working techniques and organization, and in the analysis of the statistical data on the injuries and health impairment causes, such an analysis leading to the info that more than 80 percent of the working diseases is nowadays represented by hearing loss and silicosis. A research sub project was then decided, in order to a. make available a well tested an effective measurement technique of both noise and airborne dust, suitable to provide representative results in terms of the stone workers exposure evaluation to both the pollutants. It must in fact be taken into account the often difficult measurement conditions due to the work organization, and to the presence of water and oil mist into the sheds atmosphere; b. analyze and compare the possible technical control solutions for each situation and machinery typology and layout, this obviously on the basis of the general approach of risk management selected in the first stage of the research work c. provide a database approach for risk assessment and management special for the considered industrial typology, as drawn from some well tested releases already set up for different situations. The software will make possible the storage of the measure data, the exposure level trends for different jobs, and the control measures which proved to be more effective. The paper will summarize the basics of the research program, and discuss the mail results achieved in the research sub project on noise and airborne dust.