Heart Rate, Stress, and Occupational Noise Exposure among Electronic Waste Recycling Workers.

Katrina Burns,Richard Neitzel,Julius Fobil,Kan Sun

doi:10.3390/ijerph13010140

Abstract

Electronic waste (e-waste) is a growing occupational and environmental health issue around the globe. E-waste recycling is a green industry of emerging importance, especially in low-and middle-income countries where much of this recycling work is performed, and where many people’s livelihoods depend on this work. The occupational health hazards of e-waste recycling have not been adequately explored. We performed a cross-sectional study of noise exposures, heart rate, and perceived stress among e-waste recycling workers at a large e-waste site in Accra, Ghana. We interviewed 57 workers and continuously monitored their individual noise exposures and heart rates for up to 24 h. More than 40% of workers had noise exposures that exceeded recommended occupational (85 dBA) and community (70 dBA) noise exposure limits, and self-reported hearing difficulties were common. Workers also had moderate to high levels of perceived stress as measured via Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale, and reported a variety of symptoms that could indicate cardiovascular disease. Noise exposures were moderately and significantly correlated with heart rate (Spearman’s ρ 0.46, p < 0.001). A mixed effects linear regression model indicated that a 1 dB increase in noise exposure was associated with a 0.17 increase in heart rate (p-value = 0.01) even after controlling for work activities, age, smoking, perceived stress, and unfavorable physical working conditions. These findings suggest that occupational and non-occupational noise exposure is associated with elevations in average heart rate, which may in turn predict potential cardiovascular damage.

Highlights

Since the 1980s continuing and rapid technological advances have made the functional life of technologies relatively short
Worker who did not report noise exposures outside of work showed significant reductions in heart rate compared to those who did report such exposures. These findings suggest that noise exposure can produce short-term elevations in average heart rate, which may in turn be a predictor of potential damage to the cardiovascular system following chronic exposures to high noise [33,34]
We found that the workers assessed were exposed to potentially harmful levels of both occupational and non-occupational noise

Summary

Introduction

Since the 1980s continuing and rapid technological advances have made the functional life of technologies relatively short. By 2002, the rate of PC obsolescence exceeded the rate of production, creating a need for recycling of the obsolete equipment, variously known as electronic waste or e-waste [1]. E-waste has been defined as discarded nonworking electronic products such as cell phones, computers, televisions, and appliances, or other such working products that are no longer considered useful by the owner or manufacturer [2]. In 2014 alone, approximately 41.8 million metric tons of e-waste were generated worldwide [2], and the generation of e-waste is expected to continue to increase over time. E-waste recycling has emerged as an important green industry, the primary goals of which are to remove components from electronic devices for reuse, and to prevent toxic heavy metals from entering sanitary landfills. Economic pressures in high-income countries, including higher wages and better worker protection, have resulted in the movement of e-waste recycling activities to

Results

Discussion

Conclusion