HAIR LEAD CONTENT IN CAR RADIATOR REPAIRERS AND PRINTING SHOP WORKERS IN KHON KAEN, THAILAND

Abstract

ABSTRACT
The  descriptive  study  utilized  hair  lead analysis  measure  past  lead  exposure in  car  radiator  repairers  and  printing shop  workers.  Hair  samples  and  questionnaires  were  taken  from  163 workers at  7 car  radiator  repair  businesses  and  21 printing  shops  in  Khon  Kaen,  Northeast  Thailand.  Hair  samples  were  analysed  by  inductively  coupled  plasma spectrometry  (ICP). Hair  lead  (PbH)  content  of  all  radiator  repairers (n = 15)  showed  severe  past  exposure  (>25 mg/kg), Observation  of  work  practices  in  the  repair  shops  revealed  the  source  of  contamination.  The  radiator  repair industry  is  a  high  risk  activity  for  lead  exposure.  In  the  printing  shops (n = 148) hair  lead  levels  randiator  repair industry is  a  high risk  activity  for  lead  exposure.  In  the  printing  shops  (n= 148)  hair  lead levels  ranged  from 0.6 to  307 mg/kg.  There   were 64 workers over normal limit for hair lead content (normal level is <5 mg/kg) with 47 workers having hair lead levels between  5 to  25 mg/kg. and 14  workers being in the severely  exposed  category, that is >25 mg/kg. These  14 workers had  heterogeneous  jobs  within the printing shop. Explanations  for  the  findings were researched  by evaluating  each  worker  according  to  their  primary  work  task  and  whether  they  responded  positively  to  confounding  variables  in  the  question naire  such  as  living  on  work  premises,  eating  in  the  workplace. Conclusive  answers  could  not  be  found  in  all  cases  but  certain  work  activities  and  hygiene  practices  within  the  industry  increase the  likelighood  of  lead  contamination.