Challenge Facing Measurement of Nanomaterial in Workplace Air

Abstract

The exposure measurement of nanomaterial aerosol is important in risk management, and there exist several problems for conducting quantitative measurement of nanomaterials in workplace air. In the present paper, we introduce several problems we are now facing at the real workplace. From our experience, the exposure measurement needs three steps, i.e., pre-survey, preliminary survey and further survey. The pre-survey includes understanding the work processes, materials handled in the workplace and probable emission sources. At the preliminary survey, emission sources are identified by portable particle counters. Characterization of particles by size distribution measurement and electron microscopic observation, and quantitative measurement by chemical analysis are conducted at the further survey. At present, an appropriate combination of several metrics should be selected in order to evaluate the workplace environment.