Occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica in municipal household waste collection and road cleaning workers

Boowook Kim,Daeho Kim,Wonyang Kang,Jungah Shin,Miyeon Kim,Byung-Soon Choi,Wonseok Cha,Eunyoung Kim,Sungwon Choi

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-92809-5

Abstract

Despite the increase in the number of cases among South Korean sanitation workers, lung cancer as a result of exposure to occupational carcinogen has not been sufficiently investigated. This study aimed to identify exposure levels of sanitation workers to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) for various tasks and factors that affect individual RCS exposure. Exposure to RCS was assessed for 90 sanitation workers from seven companies. The obtained geometric mean value of the RCS was 2.6 µg m–3, which is a similar level to recommendations set by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's Recommended Exposure Limit. Meanwhile, coal briquette ash (CBA) collectors exhibited the highest RCS concentration (24 µg m–3), followed by road cleaning workers who used a blower, municipal household waste collectors, sweepers, and drivers (p < 0.05). Additionally, when the ANOVA was conducted, statistically significant differences were observed in RCS concentrations among various factors such as job task, season, employment type and city scale. Our study confirmed that sanitation workers who work outdoors could be exposed to RCS. Due to the possibility of exposure to high RCS concentrations, special attention should be paid to the collection of used CBA and road cleaning involving the use of a blower.

Highlights

Despite the increase in the number of cases among South Korean sanitation workers, lung cancer as a result of exposure to occupational carcinogen has not been sufficiently investigated
Exposure to Diesel particulate matter (DPM) emitted from waste collection and other vehicles is inevitable for sanitation workers
For respirable crystalline silica (RCS), 34 samples were less than the analytical detection limit

Summary

Introduction

Despite the increase in the number of cases among South Korean sanitation workers, lung cancer as a result of exposure to occupational carcinogen has not been sufficiently investigated. Coal briquette ash (CBA) collectors exhibited the highest RCS concentration (24 μg m –3), followed by road cleaning workers who used a blower, municipal household waste collectors, sweepers, and drivers (p < 0.05). In South Korea, compensation claims of sanitation workers due to the occurrence of lung cancer has been increasing, and several work-related assessments (epidemiological surveys) have been conducted as a result. Exposure to DPM emitted from waste collection and other vehicles is inevitable for sanitation workers. As DPM is a Group 1 carcinogen designated by IARC, it is important to assess and decrease the exposure levels for workers. Previous studies have often focused on the DPM exposure of M HWworkers[5,6,7,8,9,10]

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