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The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between airborne total dust and man-made mineral fibers (MMMF), and to estimate total dust concentration to maintain below the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Value (TLV^ⓡ) for the MMMF. The regression coefficients between airborne total dust concentrations and fiber concentrations determined in the industries producing glass fibers, rock wool, refractory ceramic and continuous filament glass fibers products were 0.41, 0.42, 0.20 and 0.19, respectively. The size characteristics of fibers as well as the amounts of contaminated non-fibrous dusts could affect the correlation intensities. When total dust and fiber exposure data were compared with the occupational exposure limits, there was a large gap between two evaluation results. The regression coefficient between total dust and fiber data was increased (r² = 0.88) in the process of insulation installation generating in the higher levels of glass or rock wool fibers. In this case an estimated total dust concentration of glass wool or rock wool fibers complying with the ACGIH TLV (1 f/㏄$gt; was 1.7 ㎎/㎥ . In conclusion, the total dust and fiber concentrations was highly correlated at the higher exposure levels so that total dust-monitoring data could be used to control simply and economically and to estimate worker´s exposure to fibers.
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