The development of welding fumes health risk assessment tool for automotive component related industries
The environmental quality index had been applied and used widely for water and ambient air quality. However, indices for industrial indoor air pollutants are relatively novel and limited. Currently, the welding fume exposure risk assessments are largely focused on a single welding fume constituen...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English English |
| Published: |
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1565/3/AZIAN%20HARIRI%20COPYRIGHT%20DECLARATION.pdf http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1565/1/24p%20AZIAN%20HARIRI.pdf http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/1565/2/AZIAN%20HARIRI%20WATERMARK.pdf |
| Summary: | The environmental quality index had been applied and used widely for water and
ambient air quality. However, indices for industrial indoor air pollutants are relatively
novel and limited. Currently, the welding fume exposure risk assessments are largely
focused on a single welding fume constituent approach because the regulatory standard
for compliance only caters for a single constituent. However, in reality, welders are
simultaneously exposed to multiple welding fume constituents at once. To fulfill this
gap, welding fumes health index was developed by assigning doses rating and health
risk rating to the multiple constituent of welding fumes and aggregated into index
values. In the initial stage of this study, the type of health risks included in the
index (sensitizer, respiratory toxins, target organ toxins, and carcinogenicity) and the
related technical characteristics were determined by using quality function deployment
approach. Personal samplings of welding fumes were conducted in Plant 1 and 2 to
assess the concentration of metal constituents during the investigation of case studies
along with a series of pulmonary function tests and questionnaire on persistent
symptoms. Index values were derived from the aggregation analysis of metal constituent
constituents while significant persistent symptoms and pulmonary functions were
recognized through statistical analysis. The proposed index was then applied to a
selected welding industry for verification purposes (Plant 3). The results of the study
showed that the index value was directly proportional with the percentage decrease of
the welder’s pulmonary functions in all investigated plants and the significant persistent
symptoms (Plant 1: mean index value=1.42, FVC=84.09%, FEV1=88.51%, PEF=
68.58%, significant persistent symptom: sore or dry throat; Plant 2: mean index
value=1.40, FVC=87.86%, FEV1=91.14%, PEF=71.68%, significant persistent
symptom: none ;Plant 3: mean index value=1.30, FVC=89.65%, FEV1=91.96%, PEF=
80.57%, significant persistent symptom: none). The developed welding fumes health
index showed its promising ability to rank welding workplace that associates well with
persistent symptoms and pulmonary functions of the investigated welders. |
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