Welding Fumes, Iron Oxides, and Other Metallic Industrial Aerosols

摘要

The protection of workers from occupational exposures to substances which appear in their immediate environment is typically based on exposure limits established for either specific compounds or individual elements. For the case of metals and metalloids, exposures which have a given metallic element in common may vary from industry to industry and process to process in a wide range of characteristics: morphologies, solubilities, valence state, etc. Since one can expect that these chemical and physical properties may effect the biological activity and potential toxicity of such exposures, a serious uncertainty arises concerning the utility of generic limits to specific elements when in fact the actual substance to which individuals are exposed may vary in activity within extremely wide but unknown limits. In order to investigate such effects, a systematic search was undertaken to find which properties, if any, could be used to establish the relative biological activity of a number of substances which have common metallic elements but widely different characteristics, and which might occur in occupational exposures within the metal working industry in general, and within the welding branch in particular.