Particulate matter and airborne microorganisms in a construction site in Graz, Austria

Abstract

During construction work, the number of dust particles in the air can increase, which is also leading to a higher load of bioaerosols being transported. This study measured the concentrations of particulate matter, bacteria and fungi in the area of a large construction site at the Medical University of Graz. The measurements were carried out in the period of 1 year at three measuring sites outdoors and two indoors in a neighboring building. Aspergillus spp., Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus), Penicillium spp. and Cladosporium spp., ubiquitous in the air, were considered as indicators for air pollution. The particle concentration was determined by using the APC M3 Airborne Particle Counter. The concentration of microorganisms was measured by MAS-100 NT®. The results showed that on the construction site, the median concentrations of particulate matter (3.6 x 10⁷ m⁻³) were positively correlated with the outdoor measuring sites and the indoor air (2.0 x 10⁷ m⁻³). The fine particles increased at low temperatures, especially in winter and the coarse particles increased in summer. At the construction site, the bacterial load was 1.5 times lower than those in the indoor air in contrast, the fungal spores were significantly higher. It was found that the coarse particles correlated positively with the bacteria and the genus Cladosporium and the fine particles with the genera Penicillium and Aspergillus. At low air temperature the fine particles, the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium increased with altitude. Bacteria and Aspergillus spp. were wind speed dependent. Future studies are needed to investigate dust particle and bioaerosol concentrations during different construction stages.