ABSTRACT
This chapter considers aerosols from the perspectives important to the health and safety practitioner, and covers: information on different kinds of aerosols, work situations where aerosols are commonly encountered and how to assess various kinds of workplace aerosol hazards. Naturally and artificially produced aerosols are found in ambient and industrial air environments and vary greatly in size, density, particle shape and chemical composition. For example, the shapes of particles include spheres (water or oil droplets and welding fume), cylinders (asbestos and glass fibres), crystals (crystalline silica), regular and irregular particles (fly-ash and road dust). The types of aerosol clouds found in the workplace have complex characteristics in terms of particle size and composition. While most sampling commonly involves dusts, similar principles underpin sampling for other aerosols. Aerosol sampling is a highly complex task; however, obtaining reliable and valid results does require significant attention to detail, appropriate skills and the use of relatively costly equipment.
