Comparative health risk of inhaled exposure to organic solvents, toxic metals, and hexavalent chromium from the use of spray paints in Taiwan

Abstract

The study investigated the exposure of spray painters to organic solvents, toxic metals, and hexavalent chromium over 21 working days in 2017. The results found these concentrations of 12 VOCs to be below the short-term exposure limit (STEL) established by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The mass concentration of total particulate matter (PM) exposure to workers was 20.01 ± 10.78 mg/m, which exceeds OSHA's permissible exposure level of 15 mg/m. The mean concentration of the total metals for all particle sizes was 109.1 ± 12.0 μg/m, and those for lead (496,017.0 ng/m) and iron (252,123.8 ng/m) were the highest of metal elements. Significantly, the mean concentrations of Pb and As exceeded OSHA's permissible exposure limits (PELs) of 0.05 and 0.01 mg/m, respectively. The total hexavalent chromium concentration was 1163.01 ng/m, and the individual particle sizes (PM, PM, and PM) were strongly and positively correlated with the Cr(VI) concentrations for PM. The study determined that approximately 56.14% of the hexavalent chromium inhaled during the spray-painting process was deposited in the upper respiratory system of the head airway region, followed by the alveolar and tracheobronchial regions, with fractions of 11.93 and 0.05%, respectively. Although the mean ratio of hexavalent chromium to total chromium was only 3.6% for all particle sizes, the cancer risk of the total particles in Cr(VI) (1.6 × 10) exceeded the acceptable risk value (10). The cancer risks of As and Cr(VI) associated with quasi-ultrafine particles, PM, PM, and PM, also exceeded 10. Comparison of the carcinogenicity risk of VOCs and metals suggests that the adverse health effect of inhaled particles on spray-painting workers is more serious than that from VOC exposure.

Suppression Efficiency for Dust from an Iron Ore Pile Using a Conventional Sprinkler and a Water Mist Generator

“…To provide safe working environments to the workers in a steel plant as well as the residents neighboring the iron ore piles, it is necessary to put dust control measures including windshield, dust net, application of covers plant greening, sprinkling, and chemical spraying. These will in turn help to meet the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) PM permissible exposure limits (PEL) of 15 mg m -3 and PM recommended exposure limits (REL) of about 1 mg m -3 (Kim and Sohn, 2016;Lin et al, 2019). This study focuses on sprinkling and mist generation technologies due to their low cost and high efficiency.…”

Formation of Dense and High-Aspect-Ratio Iron Oxide Nanowires by Water Vapor-Assisted Thermal Oxidation and Their Cr(VI) Adsorption Properties

“…Chromium has oxidation states from (II) to (VI) but is the most stable in its trivalent (III) [Cr­(III)] and hexavalent (VI) [Cr­(VI)] forms; however, Cr­(VI) rarely occurs naturally and originates from anthropogenic sources. Unlike Cr­(III), Cr­(VI) is toxic and carcinogenic. , Excessive inhalation of Cr­(VI) can lead to lung cancer, direct skin contact with it may result in dermatitis, and when ingested, it can cause organ damage . Cr­(VI) compounds are, nonetheless, extremely important for electroplating, steel manufacturing, leather tanning, and textile production .…”

“…Unlike Cr(III), Cr(VI) is toxic and carcinogenic. 1,2 Excessive inhalation of Cr(VI) can lead to lung cancer, 3 direct skin contact with it may result in dermatitis, 4 and when ingested, it can cause organ damage. 5 Cr(VI) compounds are, nonetheless, extremely important for electroplating, steel manufacturing, leather tanning, and textile production.…”

Formation of Dense and High-Aspect-Ratio Iron Oxide Nanowires by Water-Vapor-Assisted Thermal Oxidation and their Cr(VI) Adsorption Properties

“…Chromium has oxidation states from (II) to (VI), but is most stable in its trivalent (III) [Cr(III)] and hexavalent (VI) [Cr(VI)] forms; however, Cr(VI) rarely occurs naturally and is typically manufactured. Unlike Cr(III), Cr(VI) is toxic and carcinogenic (Guertin et al 2016;Rahman and Singh 2019): excessive inhalation of Cr(VI) can lead to lung cancer (Lin et al 2019); direct skin contact with it may result in dermatitis (Lejding et al 2020); and when ingested, it can cause organ damage (Yu et al 2020). Cr(VI) compounds are, nonetheless, extremely important for electroplating, steel manufacturing, leather tanning, and textile production (Rosli et al 2021).…”