Worker Exposure Monitoring of Suspended Particles in a Thermal Spray Industry

The purpose of the present work was the investigation and characterization of the quality of air in a thermal spray industry, in Greece. The activities that take place in the specific facility, as well as in most other similar industries, include thermal spraying and several mechanical and metallurgical tasks that generate airborne particles, such as grit-blasting, cutting and grinding of metallic components. Since the main focus of this work was the workers exposure to airborne particles and heavy metals, portable air samplers with quartz fiber filters, were used daily for 8 h. Three samplers, carried from different employees, were used for a period of 1 month. Results showed that both particles and heavy metals concentrations were low, even in the production site, which was the most susceptible area. The only exceptions were observed in the case of cleaning and maintenance activities in the thermal spray booth and in the case of spraying outside the booth. The main reason for the low concentrations is the fact that most of the activities that could produce high-particle concentrations are conducted in closed, well-ventilated systems. Statistical elaboration of results showed that particles are correlated with Ni, Cu, Co. The same conclusion is extracted for Fe, Mn. These correlations indicate possible common sources.