ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING OF COBALT IN BREATHING ZONE OF WORKERS EMPLOYING IN A CERAMIC INDUSTRY

Introduction: Glazers in ceramic industry are exposed to a variety of glazes, containing heavy metal salts, particularly cobalt. Cobalt is used in glaze to produce blue dye; therefore, occupational exposure can be taken place, causing adverse effect on the body organs. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of cobalt in the breathing zone of 49 glazers exposed to this metal while mixing, handling, and firing processes is performed in the ceramic industry. Materials and methods: An air sample was taken from the breathing zone of each worker continuously for 8 h on a cellulose ester membrane filter of 37 mm diameter followed by determination of cobalt concentration using Inductively Coupled Plasma-atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES). In order to examine whether a correlation exists between work shifts, kind of job, ventilation system, and cobalt concentration, all participants filled out a self administered questionnaire. The lung function tests were also performed on each control and cobalt exposed subjects. T-tests was carried out to compare the cobalt concentrations between groups. Results: The mean value of cobalt concentration in glazers was 5.5 times higher than the ACGIH threshold limit value (0.02 mg/m3). Tile glazers had higher concentrations of cobalt than the pottery glazers. Spirometric parameters were significantly lower in the glazers compared to the control group (P<0.001). Conclusions: This study showed high concentration of cobalt in the breathing zone of glazers that can cause decrease in spirpmetric parameters. However, further studies on co-exposure to silica and heavy metals such as cobalt in pulmonary function impairment are necessary.