ASTM Airborne Silica Symposium to address workplace sampling.
Press Release Summary:
Second ASTM International D22 Symposium on Silica and Associated Respirable Mineral Particles will held October 25-26, 2012, in Atlanta, GA. It will provide update on progress towards assessing airborne respirable crystalline silica (RCS) exposure for compliance with current limit values. Approaches to accurately sample and evaluate workplace concentrations of RCS will be discussed. Online registration opens 8 weeks prior to symposium date, and closes on October 17.
Original Press Release:
ASTM International Announces Symposium on Silica and Associated Respirable Mineral Particles
W. CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. - The Second ASTM International D22 Symposium on Silica and Associated Respirable Mineral Particles will be held Oct. 25-26 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta in Atlanta, Ga. Sponsored by ASTM International Committee D22 on Air Quality, the symposium will be held in conjunction with the October standards development meetings of the committee.
Crystalline silica is present in most rocks and soils and many construction materials. Chronic and acute respiratory disease associated with occupational exposure to airborne respirable crystalline silica (RCS) has been observed through history, and currently there is no effective treatment. Therefore, it is essential to understand working environments where silica dust is present and to take all necessary precautions for workers health.
Improving and standardizing analytical methodologies across laboratories and developing samplers that provide additional RCS mass for analysis is required to address this situation. Combining these two approaches will allow accurate evaluate of workplace concentrations of RCS and has the potential to allow shorter-term task-based sampling for better understanding of the determinants of exposure. This symposium builds on the first ASTM silica symposium (2004, Salt Lake City) and provides an update on progress towards accurately assessing RCS exposures for compliance with current limit values.
The symposium will be valuable to regulators and bodies which set guidance for exposures; managers and technicians of laboratories engaged in analysis; hygienists and others collecting samples; risk assessors and managers engaged in determining and managing the risks of products or processes that may result in emissions; and representatives of workers exposed to these products and processes.
Online registration opens approximately eight weeks before the symposium and closes Oct. 17. The fee to attend the symposium for ASTM members, presenters and session chairs is $285 USD for online registration and $310 USD for onsite registration. The fee for non-members is $310 USD for online registration and $335 USD on site. There is no fee for students with a valid ID.
Visit www.astm.org/D22SympReg1012 to register and for additional information.
Additional technical information is available from symposium co-chairmen Dr. Martin Harper, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, W.Va. (phone: 304-285-5823; mharper@cdc.gov) and Dr. Taekhee Lee, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, W.Va. (phone: 304-285-5783; fwc8@cdc.gov).
ASTM International is one of the largest international standards development and delivery systems in the world. ASTM International meets the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles for the development of international standards: coherence, consensus, development dimension, effectiveness, impartiality, openness, relevance and transparency. ASTM standards are accepted and used in research and development, product testing, quality systems and commercial transactions.
ASTM Staff Contact: Hannah Sparks, Phone: 610-832-9677; hsparks@astm.org
Release #9247
SymposiumD22SilicaJuly2012
