Modelling of occupational exposure to inhalable nickel compounds

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate average occupational exposure to inhalable nickel (Ni) using the German exposure database MEGA. This database contains 8052 personal measurements of Ni collected between 1990 and 2009 in adjunct with information on the measurement and workplace conditions. The median of all Ni concentrations was 9 μg/m and the 95th percentile was 460 μg/m. We predicted geometric means (GMs) for welders and other occupations centered to 1999. Exposure to Ni in welders is strongly influenced by the welding process applied and the Ni content of the used welding materials. Welding with consumable electrodes of high Ni content (>30%) was associated with 10-fold higher concentrations compared with those with a low content (<5%). The highest exposure levels (GMs ≥20 μg/m) were observed in gas metal and shielded metal arc welders using welding materials with high Ni content, in metal sprayers, grinders and forging-press operators, and in the manufacture of batteries and accumulators. The exposure profiles are useful for exposure assessment in epidemiologic studies as well as in industrial hygiene. Therefore, we recommend to collect additional exposure-specific information in addition to the job title in community-based studies when estimating the health risks of Ni exposure.

Nickel compounds in the workplaces: Occupations and activities involving high‐risk exposures in Italy

“…Studies on exposures to occupational carcinogens are increasing, thanks to new data availability. A similar study to ours, on the estimation of occupational exposure to inhalable Ni, was conducted using the German database MEGA (Measurement data relating to workplace Exposure to hazardous substances, German acronym) . It was based on 8052 personal measurements of Ni air concentration and has estimated the average level of exposure for some occupations such as welders and metal works.…”

Exposure to Welding Fumes, Hexavalent Chromium, or Nickel and Risk of Lung Cancer

“…In this study, welding was performed before the 1990s, whereas measurements were available only after the 1990s. Previous analyses revealed rather stable concentrations for each welding process across 3 decades (16)(17)(18), but improvements in fume extraction systems might have reduced exposure levels over time. Trends in using specific welding processes were captured in the welding histories.…”

“…We substituted the shift concentrations in the WEM of the European cohort of welders (13) using the estimates from personal measurements of inhalable welding fumes (n = 15,473), Cr(VI) (n = 1,898), and Ni (n = 3,055) that were compiled in the exposure database Messdaten zur Exposition gegenüber Gefahrstoffen am Arbeitsplatz (MEGA) (Web Table 1) (16)(17)(18). Measurements below the limit of detection or quantitation (welding fumes: 23%; Cr(VI): 61%; Ni: 22%) were multiply imputed to estimate the geometric means as a proxy of the average annual shift concentrations.…”

“…The present study was conducted to estimate the lung cancer risk associated with exposure to welding fumes, Cr(VI), and Ni among workers reporting regular or occasional welding in a pooled analysis of 2 population-based German case-control studies. Exposure to these agents was assessed by substituting the original shift concentrations of the WEM that was developed for the European cohort of welders with estimates derived from measurements at German workplaces (9,10,(16)(17)(18). This WEM was linked to individual welding histories that were acquired from a welding-specific questionnaire to estimate the lung cancer risk in relation to cumulative exposure to welding fumes, Cr(VI), and Ni.…”

New Opportunities in Exposure Assessment of Occupational Epidemiology: Use of Measurements to Aid Exposure Reconstruction in Population-Based Studies

“…The MEGA database includes over 1,000,000 measurements of over 400 substances from 1972 onwards, with up to 150 pieces of information, such as type of workplace, working conditions, measured substances, sampling strategy, sampling duration, and sampling and analytical method [21]. Subsets of the MEGA database have been used to develop exposure profiles for inhalable nickel air exposure [45•] and hexavalent chromium [46]. The COLCHIC database was set up in 1987 and includes measurements from French interregional laboratories and the French national and safety institute laboratories; by 2001 it contained over 400,000 measurements for over 600 substances [20].…”