Occupational Health of Exposure to Lead in One Lead-Battery Factory and One Litharge Factory

• Main Authors: Chen, Van Lan, 陳范倫
• Other Authors: Yu-Jue Hong
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 1996
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/86955244689957535074

碩士 === 高雄醫學院 === 公共衛生學研究所 === 84 === There has been concern for many years over lead as a potential hazard inworking environment. The laborer''s health is threatened by lead while theyuse it. Therefore, it is more and more important to protect them who work inthe environment polluted by lead. We have surveyed one lead-battery factory and one litharge factory in Ka-ohsiung and Pingtung area. After the first observation, all of 55 and 103workers of the two factories were our study samples. The study included env- ironmental exposure assessment, questionnaire interview, and blood-leadmeasurements. We used personal sampling pump to collect environmental samplesto estimate 4-hour average concentrations by Flame Atomic Adsorption Spectr-ophotometer. The recovery of this self-assessment questionnaire survey is onehundred percent. 10 ml blood was drawn and kept in lead-free tubes for blood-lead measurements by Occupational Health center of Kaohsiung Medical College. The analysis results show that the lead levels of environmental exposure atthe lead-battery factory are between 0.033 to 3.867 mg/m3(mean : 1.027(1.016mg/ m3). The maximum data 3.867 mg/m3 was measured in cutting area. The otherareas except office in the factory, the lead levels exceed the PEL-TWA of 0.1mg/m3. And blood-lead concentrations are between 10.30 to 91.00 g/dl (mean:45.99±19.75 g/dl for man, 28.63±15.50 g/dl for woman),and the standard valueof surveillance system is 40 g/dl for man and 30 g/dl for woman. According tothe questionnaire data, there is a significant correlation between blood-leadand job characteristics,working area, lodging in the factory or not, diet inthe factory or not, and taking a bath or not after finishing their work (p<0.05) . The environmental exposure levels of lead at the litharge factory are between0.054 to 1.053 mg/m3(mean : 0.286(0.249 mg/ m3). The maximum data 0.397 mg/m3 wasmeasured in smelting lead area. The blood-lead concentrations are between 2.80to 82.20 g/ dl (mean: 28.78±15.30 g/dl for man, 11.60±11.51 g/dl for woman).From the questionnaire data, there is only a significant correlation betweenblood-lead and job characteristics (p<0.05).