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Lead exposure among lead‐acid battery workers in Jamaica
Author(s) -
Matte Thomas D.,
Figueroa J. Peter,
Burr Gregory,
Flesch Jerome P.,
Keenlyside Richard A.,
Baker Edward L.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.4700160208
Subject(s) - medicine , battery (electricity) , lead–acid battery , lead (geology) , environmental health , lead exposure , lead poisoning , toxicology , cats , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , geomorphology , psychiatry , biology , geology
To assess lead exposure in the Jamaican lead‐acid battery industry, we surveyed three battery manufacturers (including 46 production workers) and 10 battery repair shops (including 23 battery repair workers). Engineering controls and respiratory protection were judged to be inadequate at battery manufacturers and battery repair shops. At manufacturers, 38 of 42 air samples for lead exceeded a work‐shift time‐weighted average concentration of 0.050 mg/m 3 (range 0.030–5.3 mg/m 3 ), and nine samples exceeded 0.50 mg/m 3 . Only one of seven air samples at repair shops exceeded 0.050 mg/m 3 (range 0.003–0.066 mg/m 3 ). Repair shop workers, however, had higher blood lead levels than manufacturing workers (65% vs. 28% with blood lead levels above 60 μg/dl, respectively). Manufacturing workers had a higher prevalence of safe hygienic practices and a recent interval of minimal production had occurred at one of the battery manufacturers. Workers with blood lead levels above 60 μg/dl tended to have higher prevalences of most symptoms of lead toxicity than did workers with lower blood lead levels, but this finding was not consistent or statistically significant. The relationship between zinc protoporphyrin concentrations and increasing blood lead concentrations was consistent with that described among workers in developed countries. The high risk of lead toxicity among Jamaican battery workers is consistent with studies of battery workers in other developing countries.