Blood Lead Level of Workers in a Printing Industry

Abstract

Background: Different chemical materials especially inks are used in printing industry and lead is one of the ingredients that make up its pigments. Therefore, the objectives of present study were to examine blood lead levels and determine the correlation between hygiene behaviors and blood lead levels among workers in one of the printing industry located in the west of Tehran province. Methods: In this cross-sectional study that conducted in 2018, 80 workers of a printing house were selected. Blood samples were collected according NIOSH 8003 method and analyzed using a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer GF 5000 model. Data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman correlation test using SPSS 20. The significance level of 0.05 considered for results. Results: The range of blood lead levels was 0.0094 to 0.1968 ppb. Individuals who worked in printing patterns process on cardboard sheets had blood lead levels higher than those working in other processes in this printing house (P < 0.001). The workers who did not use masks (P = 0.034) and gloves (P < 0.001) had higher mean lead atomic absorption than the others. Conclusion: The lack of using personal protective equipment could potentially increase the blood lead levels in printing industry workers.