Evaluation Of Occupational Hazards In Ceramic Industry And Study On Their Effects On Lung Function

Section I Measurement and evaluation of occupational hazards in ceramicenterprisesObjective: The objective of this section was (1) to evaluate the occupational hazardsat the workplace and the distribution characteristics by monitoring in two ceramicenterprises;(2) to investigate the situation of the enterprise’s occupational healthprotection.Method: The occupational hazards determing were conducted for continuous3daysat each factory. The items included total dust concentration, respirable dustconcentration, free silica percent, industrial noise, temperature, relative humidity,WBGT, air pressure, thermal radiation and wind speed.Result: Dust exposure existed in18workplaces in factory A. Among them, the dustconcentrations of10workplaces exceeded national limit. Industrial noise levels overnational limit were very common in the workplaces. The highest WBGT was5.6℃higher than the national standard. A total of12workplaces were determined in factoryB. The dust concentration in one workplace was lower than national limit. The dustconcentrations in other11workplaces were higher than limit. The industrial noise ofall the monitoring points was higher than national limit of industrial noise. WBGTwere higher than the standard limit in all worksites except for the raw material site.Conclusion: These results showed that the main occupational hazards in aboveceramic factories were industrial dust, industrial noise and high temperature.Section II Discussion on the influencing factors for ceramic workers’ lungfunction damageObjective: The aim of this section was to evaluate the effect of occupational hazardsin ceramic industry on the workers’ lung function damage. A total of992ceramic workers were involved in the study. We analyzed influencing factors for lung functioninjury.Method: All subjects’ occupational history and historical dust concentrations ofceramic factory which were used to establish JEM had been collected. Individualcumulative dust exposure was calculated on the basis of occupational history and JEM.Individual information was collected through the questionnaire. Pulmonary functiontest were conducted in the physical health examination.Result: The rate of severe impairment of lung function in exposed workers(26.48%)was significantly higher than that in nonexposed workers（15.81%)(P<0.05).The rateof severe impairment of lung function in smokers (20.76%) was significantly higherthan that in nonsmokers (14.87%)(P<0.05).Conclusion: This study found that dust exposure and smoking were the main riskfactors of lung function damage...