Blood Lead Levels in Copper Smelter Workers in Japan.

Abstract

Lead exposure of workers in a Japanese copper smelter was assessed by determining lead levels in blood, air and flue cinder at the copper smelting processes. All the samples were analyzed for lead by atomic absorption spectrometry. Mean lead levels of air were highest at the anode department followed by the converter, smelter and blend departments. The mean level of blood lead of the workers in the anode department was also the highest among the four smelting departments. The mean blood lead levels of the workers in each department were positively correlated with their air lead levels (r=0.99, p<0.01). This study indicates therefore that workers in copper smelters have been exposed to lead in their workplace. Though this finding has already been reported in preceding studies, the Ordinance on Prevention of Lead Poisoning in Japan has not included copper smelter into its target job categories if their lead concentration in the raw material is less than 3%. The limitation of the present Ordinance which defines the targets by the types of job and not by the actual exposure, is discussed.

Biological Monitoring Among Workers Exposed to Inorganic Lead and Its Compounds

“…This is similar with findings of Kemal et al [28]. No significant difference was registered for the average BLL values due to the smoking status and alcohol consumption habit among exposed workers, which is similar to the findings of Karita et al [32] showing that length of service, smoking, face washing and wearing gloves have no significant correlation with the BLL.…”

Effects of shift work on QTc interval and blood pressure in relation to heart rate variability

“…This inconsistency in blood pressure may be explained by different social working environments, type of rotating shift schedule (van Amelsvoort et al 2001a), job stress (Fauvel et al 2001), or selection bias (Ishii et al 2004). For example, shiftworkers may have been exposed to low levels of a hazardous substance (e.g., lead) in a copper-smelting plant (Karita et al 2000) or to heat or light (Sakata et al 2003). A higher DBP during working hours only has been suggested to be associated with high job strain (Fauvel et al 2001).…”

“…The study population consisted of healthy male workers, 18-62 years of age, who were employed at a coppersmelting plant in the northeastern region of Japan (Karita et al 2000;Murata et al 1999a, b;Shinozaki et al 2001). Two hundred and sixteen of them worked as shiftworkers in the roaster, smelter, converter, anode casting, and fire and electrolytic refining divisions, primarily related to the production process.…”

Environmental and Biological Monitoring in a Lead Acid Battery Manufacturing Unit in India

“…All these employees should be monitored at regular intervals for their blood lead levels and if possible, to minimize the environmental lead exposure, job rotation among these employees should be considered. In addition, education of workers to improve their hygiene behaviour may be needed because eating during working hours increases their blood lead levels 10) . Moreover inadequate hand and face washing and unrestricted smoking at the workplace may result in sub clinical lead poisoning 11) .…”