Spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of reconstruction dust of abandoned industrial buildings considering single- and dual-processes

Purpose Construction dust poses a serious occupational health problem worldwide. When quantifying dust exposure, the level of construction dust from new buildings is usually considered. However, the greening and organic regeneration of cities have led to the significant reuse of industrial buildings. In this context, contaminated industrial buildings are more likely to be a source of exposure. This study aims to investigate the spatial and temporal distributions, exposure characteristics and occupational health risks of construction dust at a typical contaminated industrial building site in Xi’an. Design/methodology/approach By setting up the control group and the experimental group to carry out the field measurement of construction dust data, a total of 425 dust samples were obtained after 6 months. Secondly, the dust concentration data of single and double processes are numerically simulated to form the spatio-temporal distribution curve. Finally, the probability of occupational health risk was evaluated. Findings The results show that there are significant differences in the statistical and spatiotemporal distributions of construction dust under different work combinations; the exceedance rate of construction dust concentration under specific processing operations is 96.43%, and the exceedance rate of construction dust concentration under cross-processing operations is 74.29%. Dust transport under cross-processing operations can be regarded as a multidimensional coupling of dust under two single-processing operations of the same type. Originality/value Occupational health risk evaluations for construction workers should pay more attention to the use of contaminated industrial buildings as a source of dust exposure, and the health impacts of industrial pollutants such as heavy metals in construction dust deserve further attention. These findings will contribute to a better understanding of construction dust exposure and associated health risks.