Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (한국산업보건학회지)

Korean Industrial Hygiene Association (한국산업보건학회)
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Exposure Assessment of Airborne Cobalt in Manufacturing Industries

코발트 취급사업장의 공기 중 코발트 노출평가

  • 김재홍 (대구한의대학교 보건대학원) ;
  • 정종현 (대구한의대학교 보건학부) ;
  • 피영규 (대구한의대학교 보건학부)
  • Received : 2015.06.01
  • Accepted : 2015.06.20
  • Published : 2015.06.30
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Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate cobalt concentrations in airborne inhalable, total and respirable dust from manufacturing industries using cobalt. Methods: To compare cobalt concentrations, three types of dust samplers(a 37mm closed cassette sampler, Institute of Occupational Medicine(IOM) sampler, and Aluminum cyclone sampler) were used. The analysis of cobalt concentrations was conducted using AAs based on the NIOSH 7300 method. Results: The geometric mean of cobalt concentration in total dust was $1.47{\mu}g/m^3$, and the rate of excess of the Korean Occupational Exposure Limit(KOEL) was 10.0%. The geometric mean concentrations of cobalt in super alloy manufacturing industries were higher than those in plating industries, and molding operations showed higher exposure levels to cobalt than did other operations. Conclusions: The rate of cobalt concentration in inhalable dust from super alloy manufacturing industries exceeding the Workplace Exposure Limit(WEL) as recommended by the Health & Safety Executive(HSE) was 7.1%, which means proper work environmental management is required through wet work environments. Given that molding operations had higher cobalt concentrations, it is necessary to apply measures such as local exhaust for reducing airborne dust in cobalt manufacture industries.

Keywords

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