An Investigation To The Current Occupational Hygiene Status And Its Workers’ Health Effects Of Lead Battery Industry In Wuhan

Objective：Lay the basis for more efficient and targeted measures taken by the related departments tolower the incidence of lead poisoning by investigating the current occupational health situationsin working places of battery industry and the workers’ lead levels, as well as exploring its impactfactors.Methods：Survey the general situation of two randomly picked battery companies in Wuhan includingthe technological process, raw materials, equipment layout, working system, occupational hazardfactors and individual protective measures. Evaluate the occupational exposure levels of the airlead in the two companies and the results of374workers’ physical examinations and theirquestionnaires. Input the data by Epidata3.0software and compute it by Excel2003software tostatistically analyze it by SPSS16.0software.Results:1.The density of lead smoke is0.137mg/m3,with exceeding rate as64%, while the lead dust is0.228mg/m3and56.7%in the two investigated factories. The rate of lead smoke or lead dustexceeding the national standards is72.7%.8untapped air-vents were built on roofs of theproducing department;the rate of wet sweeping was very low; the rest area was located in theproducing department;the distance between the worker’s drinking area and production line waswith in5meters; every operating floor on the workstation has its own convulsions system under;the workers were equipped with work clothes、cotton mouth masks、cotton gloves、earplugs andso on; the companies had offered pre-job trainings for their workers.2.The workers’ results of physical examinations were as followed: the average blood leaddensity of374workers was280.5±159.8μg/L, with59.9%exceeding normal levels,17.9%reaching clinical observational levels,2.7%reaching clinical diagnostic levels; approximately39.8%had anemia, with increased ALT(9.4%) and abnormal ECG (90.3%);43.04%hadneurological signs, with27%gastrointestinal signs.3.The results of workers’ individual protective behaviors were as followed:40.1%had didworn cotton mouth masks frequently; almost all of the workers had been drinking water in theproducing department;nearly half of them had been eating in the producingdepartment;17.9%had not taken a bath after a day’s work, even with someone leaving thefactory by wearing the work clothes.4.Through statistical analysis, the workers’ lead exposure levels, age, working years,individual behaviors, smoking and drinking were found to have statistically significant relationsto their blood lead levels. Their gender has no relations to blood lead level in this research. Multiple regression equation was: Y=329.73+72.247X1+3.081X2-5.68X3-20.83X4-53.70X5（X1=lead exposure levels， X2=age， X3=working years， X4=individual behaviors，X5=smoking）.The equation has showed that the exposure levels had stronger effect on bloodlead levels, with individual behavior as the second stronger one, the age as the last one.Conclusions:1. The air lead smoke or dust levels in the manufacturing shop investigated were higher thanthe national standards, and the exceeding rates were also out of limit.2. The workers’ personal protective behaviors were not satisfactory, with rates of abnormalblood lead and cardiovascular disorders very high.3. Workers’ lead exposure levels, individual behaviors and working years were main impactfactors on their blood lead levels. The government and relevant departments should increaseinput and strengthen the regulation and monitoring in the lead-acid battery industry, whileimproving the workers’ awareness of personal protective behavior lying in their daily workinglife.