Workers' exposure to dust and potentially toxic elements during steel cutting in two ship dismantling cases

• Ship dismantling is the recommended recycling solution for the end of a ship's life, but the process is not free of occupational risk. Despite proper regulations, there are underlying chemical and physical hazards, mainly due to the cutting of steel parts, which is the core of the recycling process. The overall aim of this research study is to determine, in two case study examples, the ship recycling workers' potential occupational exposure by inhalation of chemical agents generated by the torch cutting process of coated and de-coated steel. This was carried out specifically through (i) monitoring and measuring ship recycling workers' local environment for the inhalable (total dust) and respirable (fine dust) fractions during their working operations, (ii) analysing the heavy metal content of the dust and (iii) calculating and comparing this against occupational exposure limits, (iv) comparing de-coating operations with cutting of coated and de-coated steel. Results of this study show that without further mitigation workers involved in torch cutting processes are at high risk of exposure to heavy metals by inhalation as these are exceeding the norms defined by regulatory bodies. © 2023 The Authors

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Arbetsmedicin och miljömedicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Occupational Health and Environmental Health (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Cutting fumes

Dismantling

Emissions

Ship recycling

Torch cutting

Chemical hazards

Dust

Metal cutting

Occupational risks

Recycling

Ships

Coated steel

Cutting fume

Cutting process

Emission

Ship dismantling

Workers'

Workers' exposures

Heavy metals

occupational exposure

steel

toxic substance

vessel

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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