Mohamed Sabrein H, El-Ansary Aida L, El-Aziz Eman M Abd
Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Egypt.
Ind Health. 2018 Jun 1;56(3):255-263. doi: 10.2486/indhealth.2016-0192. Epub 2017 Dec 2.
Crystalline free silica is considered as a lung carcinogen and the occupational exposure to its dust is a health hazard to workers employed in industries that involve ores of mineral dust. In Egypt, thousands of people work under conditions of silica dust exposure exceeding the occupational exposure limit, as a result the monitoring of this occupational exposure to crystalline silica dust is required by government legislation. The assessment of the later is a multi-phase process, depend on workplace measurements, quantitative analyses of samples, and comparison of results with the permissible limits. This study aims to investigate occupational exposure to crystalline silica dust at 22 factories in Egypt with different industrial activities like stone cutting, glass making, ceramic, and sand blasting. Dust samples were collected from work sites at the breathing zone using a personal sampling pump and a size-selective cyclone and analyzed using FTIR. The sampling period was 60-120 min. The results show that the exposure at each of the industrial sectors is very much higher than the current national and international limits, and that lead to a great risk of lung cancer and mortality to workers.
结晶态游离二氧化硅被视为一种肺部致癌物，职业性接触其粉尘对从事涉及矿物粉尘矿石行业的工人健康构成危害。在埃及，数千人在二氧化硅粉尘接触量超过职业接触限值的条件下工作，因此政府立法要求对这种职业性接触结晶态二氧化硅粉尘的情况进行监测。对后者的评估是一个多阶段过程，取决于工作场所测量、样品定量分析以及将结果与允许限值进行比较。本研究旨在调查埃及22家从事不同工业活动（如石材切割、玻璃制造、陶瓷和喷砂）的工厂中职业性接触结晶态二氧化硅粉尘的情况。使用个人采样泵和尺寸选择性旋风器从呼吸带的工作场所采集粉尘样本，并使用傅里叶变换红外光谱仪（FTIR）进行分析。采样期为60 - 120分钟。结果表明，每个工业部门的接触量都远高于当前的国家和国际限值，这会给工人带来患肺癌和死亡的巨大风险。
