GELTAPE METHOD FOR MEASUREMENT OF WORK-RELATED SURFACE CONTAMINATION WITH COBALT CONTAINING DUST - CORRELATION BETWEEN SURFACE CONTAMINATION AND AIRBORNE EXPOSURE

Objectives-The geltape method is a new method for optical measurement of total amount of dust on surfaces. The objectives were to study the potential applicability of this method to measurements of work related cobalt exposure during painting of plates with cobalt dye. Methods-Co nsecutive series of work related geltape prints were taken from surfac es inside and outside the ventilation cabins of two plate painters dur ing two full working days. The amount of dust picked up by the geltape s was measured optically with a held monitor. Also, personal air sampl es were collected on filters at the different work processes. In the l aboratory the contents of cobalt on the geltape prints and the filters were measured with inductive coupled plasma atomic emission spectrosc opy. Results-The key results were: (a) when the geltape prints were ta ken from surfaces inside the cabins the optically measured area of the geltapes covered with total dust (area (%)) correlated well with the chemically measured amount of cobalt present on the geltapes. Linear c orrelation coefficient (R(2)) was 0 . 91 for geltape prints taken on t he floor and 0 . 94 for prints taken on the ceiling; (b) the cumulativ e airborne cobalt exposure, calculated from data on work related expos ure by personal sampling, correlated with the area (%) of geltape prin ts taken from the ceiling of the cabin (R(2) = 0 . 98); (c) the geltap e method could be used to distinguish both between work processes with different levels of cobalt exposure, and between plate painters subje cted to significant differences in airborne cobalt exposure. Conclusio n-The geltape method could produce measures of the work related exposu res as well as whole day exposure for cobalt. The geltape results corr elated with measurements of personal airborne cobalt exposure. In this industry the profile of exposure is well-defined in time, and it seem s reasonable to apply this fast and low cost method in routine exposur e surveillance to obtain a more detailed description of the exposure t han can be obtained by the use of airborne measurements only.