Occupational Exposures at Electronic Waste Recycling Facilities

摘要

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health performed evaluations at eight electronics waste recycling facilities, and conducted a pilot survey on health and safety in the U.S. electronic waste recycling industry. The purpose of this work is to improve understanding of occupational exposures to metals and other contaminants, and to make recommendations to control these exposures. In our health hazard evaluations we found that employees had overexposures to airborne lead and cadmium, there was surface contamination with heavy metals outside the production areas, a lack of or insufficient engineering controls, poor work practices (such as dry sweeping metal containing dusts), and "take-home" metal contamination issues. Some facilities did not have employee showers and only provided uniforms to employees in the areas thought to have more exposure to metals and other contaminants. Our nationwide survey had a low response rate (47/307 facilities or 15%). Among survey respondents, we found that 1) most companies which responded had between 10 to 80 employees, 2) all recycled a wide array of electronics, 3) most performed manual recycling processes, and 4) some facilities had practices that suggested metal dusts were generated while recycling was not well controlled. We have learned that exposures can be dynamic, due to the variety and varying quantities of electronics being recycled. For example, electronic waste recyclers may only monitor for lead, although their employees may be exposed to mercury, cadmium, nickel, beryllium, and other contaminants.