Safety and Health at Work

Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (산업안전보건연구원)
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Assessing Neurobehavioral Alterations Among E-waste Recycling Workers in Hong Kong

  • Gengze Liao (JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong) ;
  • Feng Wang (JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong) ;
  • Shaoyou Lu (School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University) ;
  • Yanny Hoi Kuen Yu (Occupational Safety and Health Council) ;
  • Victoria H. Arrandale (Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto) ;
  • Alan Hoi-shou Chan (Department of Systems Engineering, City University of Hong Kong) ;
  • Lap Ah Tse (JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
  • Received : 2023.08.31
  • Accepted : 2023.12.26
  • Published : 2024.03.30
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Abstract

Background: E-waste workers in Hong Kong are handling an unprecedented amount of e-waste, which contains various neurotoxic chemicals. However, no study has been conducted to evaluate the neurological health status of e-waste workers in Hong Kong. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of neurobehavioral alterations and to identify the vulnerable groups among Hong Kong e-waste workers. Methods: We recruited 109 Hong Kong e-waste workers from June 2021 to September 2022. Participants completed standard questionnaires and wore a GENEActiv accelerometer for seven days. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Questionnaire 16/18 (Q16/18) were used to assess subjective neurobehavioral alterations. The GENEActiv data generated objective sleep and circadian rhythm variables. Workers were grouped based on job designation and entity type according to the presumed hazardous level. Unconditional logistic regression models measured the associations of occupational characteristics with neurobehavioral alterations after adjusting for confounders. Results: While dismantlers/repairers and the workers in entities not funded by the government were more likely to suffer from neurotoxic symptoms in Q18 (adjusted odds ratio: 3.18 [1.18-9.39] and 2.77 [1.10-7.46], respectively), the workers from self-sustained recycling facilities also have poor performances in circadian rhythm. Results also showed that the dismantlers/repairers working in entities not funded by the government had the highest risk of neurotoxic symptoms compared to the lowest-risk group (i.e., workers in government-funded companies with other job designations). Conclusion: This timely and valuable study emphasizes the importance of improving the working conditions for high-risk e-waste workers, especially the dismantlers or repairers working in facilities not funded by the government.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the EcoTech Professional Association of Hong Kong and the Occupational Safety & Health Council, Hong Kong SAR, for their generous help in data collection.

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