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REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1584841
This article is part of the Research TopicMineral Particles and Fibers and Human Health Risks: State-of-the-Art in Characterization, Analysis, Tissue Analytics, Exposure Thresholds for Risk, Epidemiology, and Risk Assessment for Science-Based Regulation and Disease Prevention and Implications for Occupational Health and SafetyView all 11 articles
Review of Previously Published Ambient Air Respirable Crystalline Silica Concentration Data for Use in Risk Assessment of Mineral Industry Sources.
Provisionally accepted- Air Control Techniques, P.C., Cary, United States
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This paper is part of a set of papers concerning the possible health implications of ambient respirable crystalline silica beyond the fencelines of mineral industry sources such as frac sand, construction sand, crushed stone, and specialty silica product plants. Previously published ambient respirable crystalline silica data relevant to mineral industry sources are reviewed to identify the typical and maximum downwind ambient respirable crystalline silica concentrations expected beyond facility fencelines. These typical and maximum downwind concentrations can be used in risk assessment studies. Relevant RCS facility downwind and upwind ambient data sets previously compiled by the authors, state regulatory agencies, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registration (ASTDR), and academic researchers are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on data sets compiled in multi-year sampling programs that take into account seasonal variations and facility operational variations. To the extent possible, data from different geographic areas are included to account for differing background (upwind) concentrations. The ambient RCS data are condensed to yield mean and maximum long-term average concentrations that can be used in risk assessment studies. There is a high degree of consistency in the RCS concentration data published by numerous researchers at a wide variety of mineral industry facilities. The authors recommend a mean concentration of 0.28 µg/m3 as an estimate of the long term average RCS concentration downwind of the fencelines of typical mineral industry facilities and a maximum concentration of 1.5 µg/m3 as an estimate of 95% upper confidence level of the mean RCS concentration downwind of the fencelines of especially large mineral industry facilities and/or those facilities where the very hilly terrain limit dispersion of facility emissions.The authors recommend a mean concentration of 0.22 µg/m3 as an estimate of the typical long term average background concentrations.If there are community health concerns at the RCS concentrations in the range of 0.22 to 0.28 µg/m3, new measurement procedures that provide higher 24-hour sample volumes and/or more sensitive analytical techniques would be needed to provide accurate community exposure data.
Keywords: Ambient Respirable Crystalline Silica Concentrations, Crystalline Silica Sampling Methods, Mineral Industry crystalline silica emissions, Chronic exposure concentrations, risk assesement
Received: 27 Feb 2025; Accepted: 09 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Richards and Brozell. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: John Richards, Air Control Techniques, P.C., Cary, United States
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