Castaño Belky P, Ramírez Vladimir, Cancelado Julio A
Fundacion Universitaria Tecnologico Comfenalco, Cartagena, Bolivar, Colombia.
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Operations and Systems, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Cali, Colombia.
Saf Health Work. 2019 Sep;10(3):355-361. doi: 10.1016/j.shaw.2019.06.001. Epub 2019 Jun 20.
Painters in the automotive sector are routinely exposed to volatile organic solvents, and the levels vary depending on the occupational health and safety controls enforced at the companies. This study investigates the levels of exposure to organic vapors and the existence of controls in the formal economy sector in southern Colombia.
This is an exploratory study of an observational and descriptive character. An analysis of solvents is conducted via the personal sampling of painters and the analysis of samples using the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 1501 method. The amount of solvents analyzed varied according to the budget allocated by the companies. The person in charge of the occupational safety and health management system was interviewed to learn about the exposure controls implemented at the companies.
A medium exposure risk for toluene was found in one company. Another presented medium risk for carbon tetrachloride, xylene, ethylbenzene, and n-butanol. The others showed low risk of exposure and that the controls implemented were not sufficient or efficient.
These results shed light on the working conditions of these tradespeople. The permissible limits established by Colombian regulations for the evaluated chemical contaminants were not exceeded. However, there were contaminants that exceeded the limits of action. The analysis of findings made it possible to propose improvements in occupational safety and health management systems to allow the optimization of working conditions for painters, prevent the occurrence of occupational diseases, and reduce costs to the country's health system.
汽车行业的喷漆工经常接触挥发性有机溶剂，其接触水平因公司实施的职业健康与安全控制措施而异。本研究调查了哥伦比亚南部正规经济部门中有机蒸气的接触水平以及控制措施的存在情况。
这是一项具有观察性和描述性的探索性研究。通过对喷漆工进行个人采样并采用美国国家职业安全与健康研究所1501方法对样品进行分析来开展溶剂分析。所分析的溶剂量根据公司分配的预算而有所不同。对职业安全与健康管理系统负责人进行了访谈，以了解公司实施的接触控制措施。
在一家公司发现甲苯存在中等接触风险。另一家公司四氯化碳、二甲苯、乙苯和正丁醇存在中等风险。其他公司显示接触风险较低，且实施的控制措施不足或效率不高。
这些结果揭示了这些从业人员的工作条件。哥伦比亚法规为所评估的化学污染物设定的许可限值未被超过。然而，存在一些超过行动限值的污染物。对研究结果的分析使得能够提出职业安全与健康管理系统的改进建议，以优化喷漆工的工作条件，预防职业病的发生，并降低国家卫生系统的成本。
