Webinar: Analytical Transmission Electron Microscopy (ATEM) & the Analysis of Asbestos

FAMANZ is delighted to announce our first webinar for 2021

Title: Analytical Transmission Electron Microscopy (ATEM) & the Analysis of Asbestos

Presenters: Dr Ronan Tartivel (National Technical Manager, ITGA) and Michael Shepherd (Principal Occupational Hygienist, COHLABS)

The principles of electron microscopy, specifically Analytical Transmission Electron Microscopy (ATEM) will be discussed including its advantages, disadvantages and the criteria utilised to determine if the structure is asbestos or not (such as morphology, diffraction & chemical composition). ATEM and Phase Contrast Microscopy (PCM) are techniques that can be used to characterize airborne fibre concentration in various environments. The specification and performance of the two methods deeply differ; PCM is an optical technique whilst ATEM is an electronic one. In some situations, there are constraints to PCM which will be discussed; the main one being the limitation of resolution of PCM (0.25 µm). This is problematic because the mean diameter of chrysotile fibres, the most commonly encountered asbestos is 0.02 µm. It is now widely acknowledged that individual fibres have the same health effects as fibre bundles exhibiting larger dimensions. Thus, a large part of airborne samples cannot be visualized by PCM at maximum magnification.

This webinar will outline the limitations of PCM in these scenarios, and examine ATEM analytical results for a range of bulk & airborne samples.

A bit more about our presenters…

Dr Ronan Tartivel
Dr Ronan Tartivel is ITGA’s National Technical Manager in HAZMAT analysis, specialising in fibres detection by Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscopy, as well as the R&D Team Leader in asbestos and nanoparticles analysis. After his Master and PhD in Material Science in 2007 with a thesis focused on Atomic Force Microscopy, TEM & SEM, Dr Tartivel joined the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) as a Research Engineer in microscopy and imaging platform using TEM and SEM, until 2012 when he joined ITGA.  Dr Tartivel is a member of the French Association for Standardization (AFNOR) in the ambient air workgroup. He is also assessor for the French Committee for Accreditation (Cofrac) for the ISO/IEC 17025, asbestos detection and identification.

Michael Shepherd
Michael is a Charted Chemist, Certified Occupational Hygienist and Fellow of the AIOH. Michael’s recent involvement in the asbestos industry includes Presidency of the Asbestos Industry Association Queensland from 1997 to 2018. He is also a member of the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland Asbestos Safety Training Industry Reference Group; acts as society advisor to the Asbestos Related Disease Support Society QLD (ARDSSQ) and is a NATA technical assessor for asbestos identification and counting. Michael previously sat on the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland Asbestos Working Party for development of Asbestos Removal Work Compliance and Advisory Standard (1996) and during 2010 was a member of both the Safework Australia Asbestos Model Regulations Temporary Advisory Group and its Assessor Steering Committee Group.

FAMANZ CPD Points
Attendance at this webinar will attract 1/2 CPD point (Category B).