BLOOD- AND AIR-LEAD CONCENTRATIONS DURING FIVE YEARS OF OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE PROGRAMME AND PROBLEMS DUE TO WELDING OPERATIONS

• Published in: The Annals of Occupational Hygiene
• Main Authors: DØSSING, M., PAULEV, P.-E.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1983
• Subjects: Articles; Greenland
• Online Access: http://annhyg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/27/4/367; https://doi.org/10.1093/annhyg/27.4.367

The blood-lead concentration (B-Pb) was measured monthly in all workers employed before (group I:32 men) and after (group II: 46 men) the start of a hygiene programme in a lead-zinc processing unit close to a mine in Greenland. The workers of Group II increased B-Pb to virtually the same levels as Group I within 3 months. The hygiene programme was developed further through the 5 yr of observation. The monthly median B-Pb of both groups decreased gradually from a level around 45 μg/100 ml to values of 30 μ/100 ml for the last year of observation. During welding operations the B-Pb of a group of guest welders (III) increased sharply to 25–75 μg/100 ml within 2 weeks. Lead depletion among the welders followed a slower time course than lead absorption. The individual B-Pb had no relationship to the air-lead concentrations measured with personal samplers. Lead-in-air measurements are unsuitable for use as a primary hygiene standard for lead.