Health Risk Assessment of Inhalable Dust Exposure during the Welding and Grinding Process of Subway Aluminum Alloy Components

Abstract

The subway factory industry is developing rapidly in China, but there are some occupational health risk assessments of inhalable dust in this industry. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the contamination level and health risks of dust in an aluminum alloy body workshop of subway factories in Hunan Province, China. A total of 160 dust samples were collected from the welding and grinding areas. The main elements of PM10 were analyzed. The health risks of aluminum dust and PM2.5 were evaluated. The Monte Carlo method was adopted to compare the sensitivity of the Hazard Quota (HQ) of aluminum dust and carcinogenic risk (CR) of PM2.5 to the exposure parameters for workers. The results showed that the PM10 concentration in the grinding area was higher, while the PM2.5 concentration in the welding area was higher. The metal element with a mass fraction of 27.7% was aluminum. In both areas, the probability of the aluminum dust HQ exceeding 1 was approximately 17% and 68%, respectively. The PM2.5 CR exceeded the acceptable upper limit value (1.0 × 10−4). The main risk factor of aluminum dust HQ was concentration, while the main risk factors of PM2.5 CR were concentration and exposure duration. These findings provide basic data for enhancing health risk management in the subway industry.

Keywords

• inhalable dust
• health risk assessment
• quantitative evaluation
• sensitivity analysis