• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.147-158
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• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the assessment of exposure to welding fume and heavy metals among construction welders. Methods: Activity-specific personal air samplings(n=206) were carried out at construction sites of three apartment, two office buildings, and two plant buildings using PVC(poly vinyl chloride) filters with personal air samplers. The concentration of fumes and heavy metals were evaluated for five different types of construction welding jobs: general building pipefitter, chemical plant pipefitter, boiler maker, ironworker, metal finishing welder. Results: The concentration of welding fumes was highest among general building pipefitters($4.753mg/m^3$) followed by ironworkers($3.765mg/m^3$), boilermakers($1.384mg/m^3$), metal finishing welders($0.783mg/m^3$), chemical pipefitters($0.710mg/m^3$). Among the different types of welding methods, the concentration of welding fumes was highest with the $CO_2$ welding method($2.08mg/m^3$) followed by SMAW(shield metal arc welding, $1.54mg/m^3$) and TIG(tungsten inert gas, $0.70mg/m^3$). Among the different types of workplace, the concentration of welding fumes was highest in underground workplaces($1.97mg/m^3$) followed by outdoor($0.93mg/m^3$) and indoor(wall opening as $0.87mg/m^3$). Specifically comparing the workplaces of general building welders, the concentration of welding fumes was highest in underground workplaces($7.75mg/m^3$) followed by indoor(wall opening as $2.15mg/m^3$). Conclusions: It was found that construction welders experience a risk of expose to welding hazards at a level exceeding the exposure limits. In particular, for high-risk welding jobs such as general building pipefitters and ironworkers, underground welding work and $CO_2$ welding operations require special occupational health management regarding the use of air supply and exhaust equipment and special safety and health education and fume mask are necessary. In addition, there is a need to establish construction work monitoring systems, health planning and management practices.

• 대한안전경영과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한안전경영과학회 2001년도 춘계학술대회
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• pp.263-266
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• 2001

• 대한안전경영과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한안전경영과학회 2002년도 추계학술대회
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• pp.269-271
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• 2002

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.328-336
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• 1989

27 shipyard welders were diagnosed as pneumoconiosis and suspected pneumoconiosis(1976-1988) by chest radiographs and were observed over three years. 27 welders were divided into three groups by the state of exposure to welding fume i.e. cessation, decresase or continuity of exposure. And we observed the changing pattern of the chest radiographs of 27 welders with the passage of time. The results were as follows; 1. Grour I (ceased exposure to welding fume) were 10 cases(3 cases: suspected pneumoconiosis,7 cases: pneumoconiosis). Chest radiographs of all cases were improved. The shape and size of small opacities was improved in 6 cases(85.7%) and did not changed in 1 case(14.3%) out of 7 pneumoconiosis welders. 2. Group II (decreased exposure to welding fume) were S cases(2 cases: suspected pneumoconiosis, 3 cases: pneumoconiosis). Chest radiographs were progressed in 2 cases(40%), did not changed in 1 case(20%), were improved in 2 cases(40%) out of 5 cases. The shape and size of small opacities was progressed in 1 case(33.3%) and was improved in 2 cases(66.7%) out of 3 pneumoconiosis welders. 3. Group III(continued expoxsure to welding fume) were 12 cases(1 case: suspected pneumoconiosis, 11 cases: pneumoconiosis). Chest radiographs were progressed in 9 cases(75%), did not changed in 3 cases(25%) out of 12 cases. The shape and size of small opacities was progressed in 1 case(9.1%) and did not changed in 10 cases(90.9%) out of 11 pneumoconiosis welders. 4. The average duration for development into suspected pneumoconiosis was 6.6 years and for progression of each one category after that was 2.2 years(p<0.01). The radiological appearance of pneumoconiosis had disappeared or decreased after cessation of exposure to the welding fume. So that, early detection and control e.g., change of department of pneumoconiosis of welders by screening program will be important for medical surveillance of welders.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.51-62
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• 2001

Geometric mean of airborne welding fume concentration at technical high schools was 4.80mg/㎥)N.D~35.39 mg/ ㎥ and the percentage of samples exceeded TLV of the Korean ministry of labor was 43.6%, Geometric mean of airborne Mn concentration was 0.06 mg/㎥(N.D~0.42mg/㎥) and the percentage of samples exceeded TLV of ACGIH was 15.4 % In case of airborne Me concentration, there is a significant difference among schools (p<0.05) Mn concentrations in blood of the exposed and control groups were 1.84$\mu\textrm{g}$/dl and 1.91 mg/dl respectively. Mn concentrations in urine of the exposed and control groups were 1.36$\mu\textrm{g}$/ιand 0.57$\mu\textrm{g}$/ι respectively. In case of Mn concentrations in urine there is a significant difference between both groups(P<0.001) and among schools(p<0.05) Mn concentrations in blood and urine of exposed group were not over BEIs of the Korean ministry of labor. Mn levels in blood and urine were not significantly affected by smoking, drinking and residence, There was no correlation between Mn concentration in air and blood but there was a statistically significant correlation between Mn concentration in air urine(r=0.323). There was no a statistically significant correlation between Mn concentration in blood and urine.

• 한국독성학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국독성학회 2003년도 추계학술대회
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• pp.68-83
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• 2003

Welders working in a confined space, like in the shipbuilding industry, are at risk of being exposed to high concentrations of welding fumes and developing pneumoconiosis or other welding-fume exposure related diseases. Among such diseases, manganism resulting from welding-fume exposure remains a controversial issue, as the movement of manganese into specific brain regions has not been clearly established.(omitted)

• 대한약학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한약학회 2003년도 Proceedings of the Convention of the Pharmaceutical Society of Korea Vol.2-1
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• pp.72-72
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• 2003

Welders working in a the confined space, like in the shipbuilding industry, are have at risk of being exposed toing a high concentrations of welding fumes and of developing pneumoconiosis or other welding- fume exposure related diseases. Among such diseasesthem, manganism resulting fromcaused by welding- fume exposure remains ais still controversial issue, as the movement ofnd no clear demonstration of manganese movement into the specific brain regions has not been clearly established. (omitted)

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.60-65
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• 2010

This paper is concerned with effects of Al, Mn and Si contents on spatter, fume, microstructure and mechanical property with 490MPa Grade Flux Core Wire(FCW). Ten kinds of FCW were fabricated by varying Mn, Si and Al contents and each FCW was weld for check the amount of spatter and fume generations, microstructures and mechanical property. Amount of spatter and fume generations was decreased with the increasing Si contents and decreasing by Al contents in FCW. And, their microstructure of weld metal were changed by Mn, Al and Si contents in FCW. With increasing of Al and Si, acicular ferrite was fine and volume fraction of acicula ferrite was increased. Thereby leading to improvement of Charpy impact property and strength.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.254-263
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• 2006

Manganese has a role as both toxic and essential in humans. Manganese is also an essential component in the welding because it increases the hardness and strength, prevents steel from cracking of welding part and acts as a deoxidizing agent to form a stable weld. In this study, manganese generation rate and its content was determined in flux cored arc welding on stainless steel. Domestic two products and foreign four products of flux cored wires were tested in the well designed fume generation chamber as a function of input power. Welding fume was measured by gravimetric method and metal manganese was determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrophotometer. The outer shell of the flux cored wire tube and inner flux were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy to determine their metal compositions. Manganese generation rate($FGR_{mn}$) was increased as the input power increased. It was 16.3 mg/min at the low input power, 38.1 mg/min at the optimal input power, and up to 55.4 mg/min at the high input power. This means that $FGR_{mn}$ is increased at the work place if welder raise the current and/or voltage for the high productivity. The slope coefficient of $FGR_{mn}$ was smaller than that of the generation rate of total fume(FGR). Also, the correlation coefficient of $FGR_{mn}$ was 0.65 whereas that of FGR is 0.91. $FGR_{mn}$ was equal or higher in the domestic products than that of the foreign products although FGR was similar. From the electron microscopic analytical data, we concluded that outer shell of the wire was composed mainly of iron, chromium, nickel and less than 1.2 % of manganese. There are many metal ingredients such as iron, silica, manganese, zirconium, titanium, nickel, potassium, and aluminum in the inner flux but they were not homogeneous. It was found that both $FGR_{mn}$ and content of manganese was higher and more varied in domestic flux cored wires than those of foreign products. To reduce worker exposure to fumes and hazardous component at the source, further research is needed to develop new welding filler materials that improve the quality of flux cored wire in respect to these points. Welder should keep in mind that the FGR, $FGR_{mn}$ and probably the generation rate of other hazardous metals were increased as the input power increase for the high productivity.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.43-57
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• 1995

In order to study the effect of welding fume exposure upon the pulmonary function test, we examined 131 shielded arc welding workers, and 152 $CO_2$ arc welding workers as cases and 177 control workers for their general characteristics, and forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second $(FEV_{1.0})$, forced expiratory volume in one second as a percent of FVC $(FEV_{1.0}%)$, and maximal mid-expiratory flow (MMF) were obtained from the spirogram. In shielded arc welding group and $CO_2$ arc welding group, FVC, $FEV_{1.0},\;FEV_{1.0}%$, and MMF were significantly decreased than control group, especially marked in the MMF finding. The distribution of workers below normal range was as follows. in the shielded arc welding group, 2 workers(1.5%) for FVC, 17 workers(13.0%) for $FEV_{1.0}$, 5 workers(3.8%) for $FEV_{1.0}%$, 28 workers(21.4%) for MMF, and in the $CO_2$ arc welding group, 3 workers(2.0%) for FVC, 25 workers(16.4%) for $FEV_{1.0}$, 8 workers(5.3%) for $FEV_{1.0}%$, and 37 workers(24.3%) for MMF, and significant increase by exposure duration was found in MMF. The distribution of workers who had ventilation impairment was as follows: 5 workers(3.8%) for obstructive type, 2 workers(1.5%) for restrictive type in the shielded arc welding group, and 7 workers(4.6%) for obstructive type, 2 workers(1.3%) for restrictive type, and 1 worker(0.6%) was combined type of the $CO_2$ arc welding group. In the respect of these results, the significant pulmonary function and ventilatory impairment were observed in welding fume exposed workers who had not abnormal finding in chest X-ray, and MMF considered as the most sensitive pulmonary function index by welding fume exposure. Therefore even if it is hard to doing pulmonary function test in the first health examination of workers according to the Industrial Safety Health Act in the welding fume exposure workers, it is desirable to consider doing PFT. Also evaluating the ventilation impairment, it is necessary, to observe the change of MMF that marker of effort-independent portion.