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

Funding details: Seventh Framework Programme, FP7, SCP-GA-2008-218695-DIVEST; Funding text 1: This research was funded by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme ( PF7/2007–2013 ) under Grant Agreement Number SCP-GA-2008-218695-DIVEST .
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

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP Hälsovetenskap Arbetsmedicin och miljömedicin hsv//swe
MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES Health Sciences Occupational Health and Environmental Health hsv//eng
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

Av författaren/redakt...: Gunbeyaz, Sefer ...; Giagloglou, Evan ...; Kurt, Rafet Emek; Garmer Rogge, Ka ...; Alkaner, Selim; McKenna, Stuart ...; visa fler...; Turan, Osman; Lord, Richard; visa färre...

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