Journal of Health and Safety at Work

Introduction: Traffic noise has been thought as a major environmental stress in modern societies, and the cause of physiological and psychological disorders according to the World Health Organization. Moreover, traffic noise can interfere with mental performance. However, there is little coherent evidence showing the effect of traffic noise on individuals’ performance. Hence, this paper aimed to address the role of traffic noise in participants’ mental performance considering the complexity of the activity.
 

Material and methods: Thirty-five master students studying in Tehran University of Medical Science were recruited for this study. Traffic noise was recorded by tape recorder and the traffic noise level was simultaneously measured by sound meter. Then, participants had been separately sitting in silent compared to traffic noise environment before they performed the tests including “S₃”-type Choice Reaction Time (CRT) test as a simple activity and “S1”-type Determine Test (DT) as a complex activity taken from “Vienna Test System” software package.
 

Results: The comparison between scores resulted from DT and CRT tests ,before and after exposure to traffic noise under simple activity conditions, showed that there was little increase in mean score of reaction time (P-value=0.47) and motor time (P-value=0.49), showing no statistically significant changes in these variables. On the contrary, following exposure to traffic noise, the DT test under complex activity condition revealed that there is a clear decreasing trend in median reaction time(P=0.001), number of stimuli (P=0.014) and number of reactions (p=0.009) in participants, and also, no significant differences were found in correct responses (P=0.091) and incorrect responses (P=0.073).
 

Conclusion: One of the most significant findings emerged from this study is that traffic noise seems to have no effect on the mentioned variables under simple activity condition. However, traffic noise has devastating effects on median reaction time, number of appeared stimuli and reactions under complex activity condition.

Introduction: Nowadays, Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) is the most widely used arc welding. During the welding operation, typically, various harmful agents such as fumes, gases, heat, sound and ultraviolet radiation are produced of which fume is the most important component from the viewpoint of occupational health. The present study aims to compare the number and the mass concentration emitted in SMAW to determine the most appropriate index of exposure to fumes in the welding processes.

Material and Method: In this study, the portable laser aerosol spectrometer and dust monitor of GRIMM, model 1.106, was used to measure the number and mass concentration of fumes emitted from SMAW on 304 stainless steel with a thickness of 0.4 mm. Air sampling was performed at a distance of 41 cm representing the welder’s breathing zone. The measurements of number concentration (NC) and mass concentration (MC) were taken under the condition of 25 volt voltage and direct current of the electrode polarity.

Result: The total NC and MC of welding fumes in welder’s breathing zone was 1140451 particles per liter and 1631.11 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively. The highest number concentration was found to correspond to the particles with 0.35 to 0.5 micrometer-sized distribution (NC1; 938976 particles per liter) and the lowest was related to the particles with 5 to 6.5 micrometer-sized distribution (NC7; 288 particles per liter) and the particles larger than 6.5 micrometer (NC8; 463 particles per liter). Moreover, the highest mass concentration was related to the particles with 0.35 to 0.5 micrometer-sized distribution (MC1; 450 micrograms per cubic meter) and the particles larger than 6.5 micrometer (MC8; 355 micrograms per cubic meter).

Conclusion: The findings indicated that there is no agreement between number and mass concentration as two particles assessment index, and as the particles’ size become smaller, the mismatch of them is becoming more apparent. Since the smaller particles penetrate into the lower respiratory tract and have higher potential for adverse health effects, it is necessary to measure and assess particles in various size distributions and especially the smaller fraction of particles. Therefore, it is thought that considering the mass concentration alone and not paying attention to number concentration in the assessment of exposure to particles in the industrial workplaces and specifically in welding stations will not be reflected valid assessment of adverse health effects of welding fumes as a systemic poison on body organs.