Occupational Exposure to Chemicals, Aerosols and Toxic Materials

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Toxicology and Epidemiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 August 2024) | Viewed by 3670

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Work Environment Development, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Työterveyslaitos, P.O. Box 40, FI-00032 Helsinki, Finland
Interests: exposure estimation and management of occupational agents, particularly of aerosols

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Exposure estimation and management is an integral part of workplace safety management systems. If excessive or significant exposure cannot be ruled out, for instance, by considering the number of chemicals used, or the concentration of dust-producing substances in machined matrixes, exposure needs to be estimated. Methods of estimating exposure include exposure modeling, biomonitoring, and airway or skin exposure measurements of harmful agents.

The present Special Issue deals with the estimation and management of occupational exposure. The emphasis is on agents that have the potential to cause permanent damage to exposed workers in industrial settings. This includes carcinogens and other mutagens, allergens, and sensitizers, as well as other substances causing potentially life-shortening occupational diseases. Ways of managing the exposure in question should be either established or, at least, discussed.

The aim of this Special Issue is to show that particularly harmful agents commonly present in many occupational settings can be managed with common exposure management methods, without hindering cost-efficient production methods. In fact, when considering all costs of excessive occupational exposure to particularly harmful agents, whether it be the manufacturers or society as a whole, exposure management is beneficial not just from a humane perspective but also from an economical perspective. Therefore, in this Special Issue, the economic realities of suggested exposure management protocols will be discussed with regard to total production costs. Papers presenting descriptions of methods developed to estimate exposure or analyze exposure agents will also be considered, as will reports of methods developed to manage exposure.

Dr. Tapani Tuomi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • occupational exposure
  • exposure management
  • causes and implications of exposure
  • carcinogens
  • mutagens
  • allergens
  • sensitizers
  • dust management protocols
  • exposure estimations methods
  • analysis of exposure agents and their metabolites

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 964 KiB  
Article
Experimental Investigations of Assessment of Acute Toxicity of Drilling Mud
by Arstan Mamyrbayev, Saule Bermagambetova, Kuanysh Baytenov, Zhanat Komekbay, Laura Sakebayeva, Umit Satybaldiyeva, Gulmira Yerimbetova and Kulyash Zhilisbayeva
Toxics 2024, 12(10), 700; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12100700 - 27 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1127
Abstract
At present, the main technological stages of oil production related to drilling operations require the use of a wide variety of drilling mud, which has a complex, multicomponent chemical composition. The drilling mud used and the resulting drilling waste must be safe for [...] Read more.
At present, the main technological stages of oil production related to drilling operations require the use of a wide variety of drilling mud, which has a complex, multicomponent chemical composition. The drilling mud used and the resulting drilling waste must be safe for human health and the environment. The toxicity and hazard of drilling mud at this point in time remain poorly understood scientific problems and require detailing and studying in toxicological terms. The real degree of hazard and toxicity of drilling mud can only be determined by an experimental method, since its composition, which changes depending on the nature of the technological process and its degree of depletion, is not constant, which can change the toxicological properties. In an experiment conducted on adult male rats, under conditions of a single intragastric injection of drilling mud, new data were obtained regarding the parameters of its toxicity and hazard. The use of a wide variety of methods for determining lethal doses of drilling mud, including the probit analysis method, made it possible not only to substantiate the mean lethal dose of drilling mud but also other parameters of toxicity and survival of animals in the experimental groups. Features of eating behavior and body weight dynamics and the nature of the behavioral reactions revealed by the number and duration of stands and frequency and duration of grooming also indicate the presence of dose-dependent effects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational Exposure to Chemicals, Aerosols and Toxic Materials)
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13 pages, 4336 KiB  
Article
Measuring Respirable Crystalline Silica (Quartz) from Powdery Materials through Sedimentation and X-ray Diffractometry
by Tapani Tuomi and Jussi Lyyränen
Toxics 2024, 12(4), 241; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12040241 - 25 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2140
Abstract
When possible, choosing materials with a low quartz content is the most effective and cost-efficient way to prevent the respirable quartz exposure of workers and other end users of powdery products. Therefore, methods are needed to analyze low amounts of quartz from powdery [...] Read more.
When possible, choosing materials with a low quartz content is the most effective and cost-efficient way to prevent the respirable quartz exposure of workers and other end users of powdery products. Therefore, methods are needed to analyze low amounts of quartz from powdery products, such as sand, gravel, plaster, cement, and concrete. To this end, we present a method to analyze respirable dust and quartz from powdered materials, such as construction products. The method includes separation of the respirable dust fraction by liquid sedimentation, followed by gravimetric analysis and determination of the crystalline silica content by X-ray diffractometry. While also aiding in the development of less harmful products, analysis of the quartz concentration of powdery products is statutory in Eu countries, excluding natural products not chemically modified. According to EU Regulation No. 1272/2008, products must be classified if they contain harmful substances in concentrations above 0.1 wt.%, and clauses pertaining to cancerous properties and harmfulness to lungs should be included. Also, mineral producers in the EU recommend that products containing respirable quartz should be labelled based on their quartz concentration, provided the concentration exceeds 1 wt.%. The present method meets these needs. The analysis can be performed in parallel from 50 to 1000 mg (dry weight) of powdery materials. The quantitative limit of determination was 10 µg per sample, corresponding to 0.01 wt.%, and the linear range 0.02–10 wt.% (10–5000 µg quartz per sample, Pearson correlation coefficient 0.99). The accuracy of the method was 82% and the repeatability 11%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Occupational Exposure to Chemicals, Aerosols and Toxic Materials)
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