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Volume 2, Issue 3 (12-2012)
Abstract
Introduction: Exposure to respirable fraction of cement dust and its crystalline silica content is the most important occupational risk factor in cement industries requiring more evaluation and monitoring. This study aimed to assess exposure to crystalline silica and cement dust among workers of a cement industry in Saveh city, Iran.
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Material and Method: In this cross-sectional study, 62 samples of respirable dust were collected from breathing zone of the workers in different sections of factory. Determination of respirable fraction of cement dust concentrations carried out using gravimetric method according to the NIOSH method no. 0600. Visible absorption spectrophotometry was used according to the NIOSH method no. 7601 to determine crystalline silica content of respirable dust samples.
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Result: The highest exposure concentrations to respirable fraction of cement dust was observed in the Raw Mill and Cement Mill, and the lowest exposure in Administrative Department and Kiln the range of workers exposure in the production sites were 1.77 to 18.89 mg/m3. The range of workers exposure to the crystalline silica in the production sites was 0.011 to 0.104 mg/m3. The highest and lowest mean of exposures was observed in the raw Mill and cement mill respectively. Occupational exposure to the crystalline silica in 57% of site samples exceeded adjusted TLV recommended by NIOSH and Iranian of Occupational Health Technical Committee (0.05 mg/m3). The average of free SiO2 fraction in whole site samples was 1.17% varying from 0.49% in the cement Mill to 1.53% and 1.7% in crusher and Kiln sections, respectively
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Conclusion: Levels of exposure to cement respirable dust in all productive sections were significantly higher than the adjusted TLV. However, in administrative and control departments it was lower than the TLV level. Regarding crystalline silica, levels of exposure only in “Raw mill” and “kiln” were significantly higher than the adjusted TLV. Highest exposure concentrations to respirable fraction of cement dust recorded in Raw Mill and cement mill, and exposure to crystalline silica in raw Mill, Crusher and kiln, Therefore, preventive measures should primarily be targeted at these units.
Saba Kalantary, Farideh Golbabaei, Saeid Yazdanirad, Somayeh Farhang Dehghan,
Volume 9, Issue 1 (4-2019)
Abstract
Introduction: Nowadays, millions of people are exposed to the dusts in their workplaces. Occupational exposure to dusts is considered as one of the most common and serious occupational hazards to workers’ health. The purpose of this literature review was to review the literature related to the occupational exposure to dusts in Iran published over the past 14 years.
Material and Methods: In this review, published articles were obtained from Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Islamic World Sciences Citation (ISC), Magiran, SID، Iran Medex, and Civilica search engine. The main keywords for search were Occupational Exposure, Lung, Dust, Total Dust, and Respirable Dust. The relevant articles published in Iran over the past 14 years were searched and extracted after checking their relevancy. All articles were classified based on the titles, years of publication, places of publication, type of industries, geographic distributions, sampling and analysis methods, fields of study, and the amounts of exposure.
Results: Findings showed that in spite of increases in the rate of published literature in recent years and by considering geographical variation and the large number of dust generating firms and industries, a relatively small number of studies was conducted and published in this field. Majority of the studies in this field considered the levels of dust exposure and respiratory effects of dust exposures. In most studies the levels of occupational exposure to dusts (and crystalline silica dusts) were higher than the recommended limit values.
Conclusion: Although an increasing number of studies can be seen in recent years on occupational exposure to dusts and their effect, by considering the presence of large and small size industries with dust generating pollution in Iran, the large number of exposed people, adverse-health effects, and the need for control measures, few studies have been published in this field and further works need to be done in this area.
