a Department of Chemical and Biological Work Environment , National Institute of Occupational Health , Oslo , Norway.
b Bedriftshelsen AS , Porsgrunn , Norway.
J Occup Environ Hyg. 2019 Jun;16(6):378-386. doi: 10.1080/15459624.2019.1594841. Epub 2019 Apr 15.
While exposure to air contaminants from metal arc welding at workplaces has been intensively investigated over the last five decades, other hot work processes, such as flame and plasma cutting, air carbon arc gouging, and surface grinding have not received as much attention. Exposures to particulate matter (PM) during selected hot work processes, such as metal active gas (MAG) and manual metal arc (MMA) welding, flame and plasma cutting, air carbon arc gouging, and surface grinding were measured. Respirable, inhalable, and "total" fractions of the PM were collected with different air samplers in the workers' breathing zone. Concentrations of PM, chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), and lead (Pb) were determined in the samples by using gravimetric analysis and plasma-based analytical atomic spectrometry techniques. Bio-accessibility of the elements was investigated by using a synthetic lung lining fluid (Hatch´s solution) for the leaching of soluble metal compounds in the collected samples. Short term (15-75 min) workplace air concentrations of PM, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni and Cu in the workers´ breathing zone during hot work processes were found to be high compared to the current 8-hr time-weighted average (TWA) exposure limit values (ELVs) in use in many countries. The short-term median concentrations of PM during the different hot work processes varied between 6.0 and 88.7 mg m and between 15.1 and 193 mg m in the respirable and inhalable fractions, respectively. The highest median concentration of Fe (107 mg m) and Mn (28.7 mg m) was found in the inhalable fraction during plasma cutting and air carbon arc gouging, respectively. More than 40% of the inhalable PM generated during flame and plasma cutting, air carbon arc gouging and surface grinding was present in the respirable fraction. There was large variation in the bio-accessibility of the elements in PM collected during the different hot work processes.
虽然过去五十年以来，人们对工作场所金属电弧焊接产生的空气污染物进行了深入研究，但其他热加工工艺，如火焰和等离子切割、空气碳弧气刨和表面打磨等，并没有受到太多关注。本文测量了在选定的热加工过程中，如金属活性气体（MAG）和手动金属电弧（MMA）焊接、火焰和等离子切割、空气碳弧气刨和表面打磨过程中，工人呼吸区空气中的颗粒物（PM）暴露情况。使用不同的空气采样器在工人呼吸区收集可吸入、呼吸性和“总”颗粒物。使用重量分析法和等离子体原子光谱分析技术，在样品中测定 PM、铬（Cr）、铁（Fe）、锰（Mn）、钼（Mo）、镍（Ni）、铜（Cu）和铅（Pb）的浓度。使用合成肺衬液（Hatch 溶液）对收集到的样品中可溶性金属化合物进行浸出，研究元素的生物可利用性。与许多国家目前使用的 8 小时时间加权平均（TWA）暴露限值（ELV）相比，在热加工过程中，工人呼吸区中 PM、Cr、Fe、Mn、Ni 和 Cu 的短期（15-75 分钟）工作场所空气浓度较高。在不同的热加工过程中，PM 的短期中位数浓度在呼吸性和可吸入性分别为 6.0 至 88.7 mg m 和 15.1 至 193 mg m。在等离子切割和空气碳弧气刨过程中，可吸入性中 Fe（107 mg m）和 Mn（28.7 mg m）的浓度最高。火焰和等离子切割、空气碳弧气刨和表面打磨过程中产生的可吸入性 PM 中，超过 40%的部分存在于呼吸性 PM 中。在不同热加工过程中收集的 PM 中，元素的生物可利用性差异很大。
