Inhalable, Total and Respirable Dust: A Field Study

Inhalabte dust, total dust and respirable dust by cyclone and horizontal elutriator were measured in a side-by-side area (static) sampling programme at eight selected ferrous and non-ferrous foundries. Forty sets of samples were collected and the relationships between four different dust measurements were examined. In the foundry environments surveyed, total dust correlated highly with the inhalabte dust concentration. The MRE elutriator (Casella 113A) operating at 2.5 l. min −1 flow rate, matching the BMRC respirable dust criterion, generally collected more dust by weight per m 3 air than the 10 mm nylon cyclone, operating at 1.7 l. min −1 matching the ACGIH respirable dust criterion.