OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS (EMF) IN ARC AND RESISTANCE WELDING

Welders represent a group of workers who are exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMF) from welding machines. In particular, workers performing welding tasks are exposed to magnetic fields from the welding processes. There are several types of welding processes but the most used are arc welding (MMA: Manual Metal Arc; MIG/MAG: Metal Inert Gas/Metal Active Gas and TIG: Tungsten Inert Gas, Plasma, SMAW: Shielded metal arc welding) and resistance welding. This study attempted to assess the exposure to electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields, of a group of workers at different workplaces in industries using welding processes and compare the results with legal limits and/or guidelines. In addition, the results should clarify the need of introducing measures to prevent and/or to reduce the exposure, at the moment of the investment and over the lifetime of the technology used. A set of measurements were carried out regarding the exposure to electromagnetic fields in three national companies. The measurements were carried out at different distances from the welding machine and from the cables, at different welder's positions, close to the welders head, chest, waist and hand/electrodes and also near to the welding cables and machine. The highest values was registered near the cables (1065 mu T), for single sided spot welding, for arc welding (762 mu T) and with resistance welding (647 mu T). The results were above the action levels (ALs) of the European Directive 2013/35/EU.