Table 5 Airborne beryllium personal sample total mass exposure concentration by work category, 1994–9 and 2000–3.
| Work category | < LOD (%)* | Range (μg/m3) | Median (μg/m3) | GM (μg/m3) | GSD | 95th UTL† (μg/m3) | OEL exceedance UCL (%)‡ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0 μg/m3 | 0.2 μg/m3 | |||||||
| Production | ||||||||
| 1994–9 (n = 352) | 86 (24) | <0.02–62.4 | 0.20 | 0.21 | 2.71 | 1.25 | 2 | 55 |
| 2000–3 (n = 550) | 17 (3) | <0.02–53.2 | 0.18 | 0.18 | 3.54 | 1.66 | 4 | 50 |
| Production support | ||||||||
| 1994–9 (n = 57) | 34 (60) | <0.02–0.80 | 0.10 | 0.11 | 2.12 | 0.51 | <1 | 29 |
| 2000–3 (n = 178) | 35 (20) | <0.02–7.70 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 3.30 | 0.36 | <1 | 12 |
| Administration | ||||||||
| 1994–9 (n = 3) | 3 (100) | <0.20 | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** | ** |
| 2000–3 (n = 63) | 27 (43) | <0.02–0.35 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 2.18 | 0.10 | <1 | <1 |
GM, geometric mean; GSD, geometric standard deviation; OEL, occupational exposure limit; LOD, limit of detection; UCL, upper confidence limit; UTL, upper tolerance limit.
*Number (%) of samples that were below the limit of detection (the LOD for 1994–8 was 0.2 μg/m3, and that for 1999–2003 was 0.02 μg/m3).
†95th centile upper tolerance limit, indicates upper 95% confidence limit around the 95th centile of the distribution.
‡OEL exceedance fraction upper confidence limit, indicates the upper 95% confidence limit for the fraction of samples that exceed a given OEL.
**Calculation was not performed due to small numbers of samples.