“Carto PMAi” – A measurement campaign to assess exposure risk of workers and public population to the Elongate Mineral Particle of Interest

The measurement campaign entitled Carto PMAi (EMPi Map) deals with the potential exposure of worker and public populations to Elongate Mineral Particles of interest (EMPi). These particles are the asbestiform and non-asbestiform varieties of the six regulated asbestos minerals and of four other mineral fibers known as carcinogen for human. The aim of this French national project is to give relevant data and recommendations to the Ministries of Health, of Labor and of Environment allowing them to set up legal provisions proportionally to the risk, in case of population exposure to EMPi. The French government mandated the OPPBTP (Professional Body of Prevention in Construction Domain) to lead the project. The “Carto” process that is also used for other campaigns, as for example for crystalline silica measurements, has been developed by the OPPBTP. It implies single operating procedures, measurement monitoring and scientific validation. Several national scientific organizations and asbestos testing laboratories take part to this project. Its first step was to test in field the two measurement protocols with interlaboratory comparison to ensure single practices. The second step is the exploratory campaign to assess the potential exposure of workers and public population to EMPi during the most emissive and the most frequent situations of the construction sector activities.