Asbestos Exposure during Gasket Removal from Aircraft Engine

We have previously evaluated asbestos exposure associated with various maintenance procedures on light aircraft. The purpose of this study was to evaluate asbestos exposure during engine maintenance on light aircraft. This test was designed to evaluate the potential for asbestos exposure to mechanics and others who remove asbestos-containing engine gaskets from reciprocating style aircraft engines. Utilized in this test was an air cooled, horizontally opposed, aviation gasoline burning engine, assembled during 1986 and operated intermittently up into 2015, having accumulated 1680 hours run time. Nearly 75% of the asbestos-containing gaskets installed during 1986 were still in place at the time of testing. Chrysotile asbestos contents of such gaskets ranged from 55% to 60% by area, for those of sheet style and 5% by area, for the spiral wound metal/asbestos style. Despite the levels of effort required to effect gasket removals, the professional aircraft mechanic was not exposed to airborne asbestos fibers at the lower limits of sampling and analytical detection achieved;all of which were substantially less than the current Occupational Safety and Health Administration Permissible Exposure Limits for asbestos. The results of this testing indicate an absence of gasket related asbestos exposure risk to mechanics who work with light aircraft engines, including those having asbestos-containing gaskets. These results are consistent with the findings of Mlyarek and Van Orden who studied the asbestos exposure risk occasioned during overhaul of larger radial style reciprocating aircraft engines [1].

Assessment of Asbestos Exposure Associated with a Brake Grinder

The wear patterns for drum-style automotive brakes tend to enlarge internal drum diameters. Such enlargement is most profound when used brake drums are machined to restore the metal friction surfaces. Specialized arc grinding machinery has been used to match replacement shoe-style brake friction materials to enlarged drums. The process of arc grinding removes friction material, thereby producing dust. When organic-style friction materials contained asbestos, use of arc grinding machinery posed an asbestos fiber exposure risk to operators and proximate personnel. The manufacturers of arc grinding machinery have incorporated local exhaust ventilation systems designed to capture and remove this dust at the point of grinding contact and propel this dust into collection bags or other systems. This research was designed to evaluate the dust capture and retention characteristics of a specific arc grinder product, when used to custom grind asbestos-containing brake friction materials. A Bear Model 1420 automotive brake shoe arc grinder was the subject of this study. During two separate but consecutive test sessions, newly relined sets of shoe-style automobile brake friction materials were precision ground. Both area and personal air samples were collected throughout each testing session. This work took place within a closed and unventilated metal building, with total interior volume of 2500 m3. Collected air samples were analyzed using phase contrast microscopy (PCM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results of analysis using PCM for personal samples (n = 6) ranged from <0.044 to 0.055 fibers per cc (f/cc) (mean 0.05). Follow-up analysis of these personal samples using TEM indicated asbestos-adjusted PCM exposures ranging from <0.0074 to 0.055 f/cc (mean ≤ 0.041). Area air samples, taken at distances ranging from 1.5 to 9 meters from the arc grinder (n = 12), showed asbestos-adjusted PCM concentrations ranging from <0.0075 to 0.041 f/cc (mean ≤ 0.017). The process of custom arc grinding shoe-style, asbestos-containing brake friction materials can cause exposure to airborne asbestos fibers. However, when done using properly equipped arc grinding machines, such exposures are not expected to exceed the current occupational exposure limits for asbestos of 0.1 f/cc 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) or 1.0 f/cc 30-minute average.

A Study on the Dose-Response Relationship between Asbestos Exposure Level and Asbestosis among Workers in a Chinese Chrysotile Product Factory

The dose-response relationship for asbestos exposure in a chrysotile product factory was studied. The past gravimetric dust concentration values, obtained from different worksites, were converted into fiber concentration values according to conversion factors that were worked out by simultaneous sampling in this study. The conversions were made so that exposure could be expressed in fiber-years (f-yr). Asbestosis was diagnosed on the basis of chest radiographs and occupational histories. Cumulative dust exposure (f-yr) was calculated up to the date of diagnosis for asbestosis patients, and up to September 1982 for the remaining workers. A dose-response relationship expressed as fiber-years exposed vs cumulative prevalence of asbestosis was established by the life table method on the basis of these data. Predicted 3 and 1% prevalence of asbestosis corresponded to 43 and 22 f-yr exposure, respectively. Considering that a worker can work for 35 years, these doses are commensurate with dust concentrations of 1.22 and 0.63 f/ml, respectively. It is recommended that 1 f/ml be taken as the maximum allowable concentration of airborne asbestos dust for the workplace with an anticipated prevalence of about 2% asbestosis after 35 years of exposure. 1990 Academic Press, Inc.