Assessment of toxic metal exposure levels in welding workers

Welding is one of the business lines covering many areas. The welding process, which allows metals to melt and boil together at certain temperature values, emits harmful toxic fumes during the process according to the structure of the metals used. This fume, which occurs between the worker and the welded material, causes serious acute or chronic damage to human health and can cause irreversible effects. When we look at the data collected by conducting research on welding works and their effects, not many studies have been conducted on welding works that cause toxic effects or the number of toxic metals studied has remained limited. Looking at the studies in the literature, the respiratory system is especially the target organ. In Yozgat province, 5 different workplaces were visited in an industrial site and a questionnaire was first applied to welders engaged in welding work in each of them and then urine and hair samples were collected from each of them. In order to measure heavy metals in the urine and hair of the employees, the analyses were performed in Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) and all data were evaluated with the help of SPSS package program. The results showed that Manganese was above the limit value in 48 out of 51 people in urine and in 40 people in hair samples. Lead levels were elevated in urine in 19 people and in hair in 6 people. Cadmium levels were above the limit in 12 people in urine and 2 people in hair, Chromium levels were above the limit in 2 people in urine and 1 person in hair. Aluminum was found in high amounts in the urine of 1 employee. Zinc was elevated in urine in 9 people. Cobalt was above the limit in the urine of 4 people, Arsenic was above the limit in the hair of 7 employees. Nickel was found in the urine of 3 workers. It is very important to take occupational health and safety precautions for welding work, to conduct regular risk analyses, to train and inform workers, and to use and monitor personal protective equipment.