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Designing for safe demolition - the hazard potential of nanomaterials

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conference contribution
posted on 2015-08-26, 10:05 authored by Wendy JonesWendy Jones, Alistair Gibb, Chris GoodierChris Goodier, Phil Bust, Jie Jin, Mo Song
When specifying products, designers should consider the health and safety of those working with the materials, either during construction or during decommissioning and demolition of a building or facility at the end of its life. The use of nanomaterials (those with at least one dimension less than 100 nm) in construction is reported to be on the increase, but it is difficult to identify exactly which products contain them; and there are uncertainties regarding their hazard potential. This paper is based on an ongoing IOSH-sponsored study to catalogue nano-enabled construction products through review of the literature, and consideration of manufacturers' data; and interviews with construction professionals to assess how widely they are used. The study is also using material characterisation techniques to identify the nanomaterials involved and assess the potential for particle release from products at end of life. The study has found wide variation in the hazard profiles of the different materials and products currently available. Some specialist concretes for example, are enhanced with silica fume which has been widely used for around 40 years and is a relatively low-risk nanomaterial. Other forms of nanosilica are used in insulation materials and surface coatings. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are a nanomaterial which are hazardous in some forms. CNTs are not yet used commercially in concrete but are forecast to appear in the marketplace in a limited capacity by 2016. They are also used in very specialised surface coatings. Further information is needed to assess whether they could pose a health risk at end-of life from the combined impacts of material degradation over time and the destructive techniques commonly applied in building demolition and recycling (e.g. crushing, cutting, drilling etc).

History

School

  • Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering

Published in

CIBW099 2015

Citation

JONES, W. et al., 2015. Designing for safe demolition - the hazard potential of nanomaterials. IN: Proceedings of CIBW099 2015 Benefitting Workers and Society through Inherently Safe(r) Construction, Belfast 9-11 September.

Publisher

© CIB W099 Safety and Health on Construction

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2015

Notes

This is a conference paper. The website is at: http://www.cibw099.com/home.html

Language

  • en

Location

Belfast

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