Ricerc@Sapienza

As epidemiological studies have shown a significant association between exposure to particles and mortality and
morbidity, depending on their different deposition efficiency in the pulmonary region, size-segregated parti-
culate matter (PM) samples were collected in workplaces where high PM concentrations were expected and
compared with the results from urban and background atmospheres.
We investigated the following workplaces: an analytical chemistry laboratory, a wastewater treatment plant,
a livestock farming activity, a municipal solid waste composting plant, and a waste electrical and electronic
equipment (WEEE) Treatment Facility. The highest PM concentrations were found in the last three sites.
Ultrafine PM (PM0.1: aerodynamic diameter less than 0.1 μm) mass concentrations also proved to be espe-
cially high in the livestock farming activity, in the municipal solid waste composting plant, and in the WEEE
treatment facility, ranging between 4.7 and 19.8 μg m−3 as mean values, suggesting that this particulate fraction
should be monitored and controlled. On the other hand, in both natural and urban environments, ultrafine
particles occurred at concentrations 0.1–0.3 times the workplace values. It would have been interesting to de-
termine the increase in cancer risk due to ultrafine particles, but cohort studies on PM0.1 are lacking. Therefore,
effects on the workers were investigated starting from the lifetime average daily PM2.5 dose. Even with this
limitation, the results show that people working in municipal solid waste composting plant and in a WEEE
Treatment Facility are exposed to a not negligible additional lifetime risk on respect citizens.