BACKGROUND Ski waxes are applied onto the skis to improve the performance. They contain different chemical substances, e.g. perfluoro-n-alkanes. Due to evaporation and sublimation processes as well as mechanically generated dust, vapours, fumes, and particulates can contaminate the workroom atmosphere. The number of professional ski waxers is increasing, but occupational exposure assessments am...

Four hundred and eighty-six textile workers in three cotton mills and one wool/synthetic mill were studied for symptoms and functional effects of workroom exposure to dust. Byssinosis was found in 5.7% of 386 cotton workers, with an apparent threshold level of 0.5 mg cotton dust/m3 of air. Mean post-shift functional declines were greater in workers exposed to greater than or equal to 0.2 mg/m3....

BACKGROUND Noise pollution is currently a major health risk factor for workers in industries. The aim of this study was to investigate noise pollution and implement a control intervention plan for blast furnace in a steel industry. METHODS The measurement of sound pressure level (SPL) along with frequency analysis was done with the sound-level-meter Cell-450. Personal noise exposure was perfo...

The controversy of whether small asbestos fibers are biologically significant has not been resolved. The present standard method for evaluating asbestos fiber concentrations in workroom air excludes fibers less than 5 micron long even though it has been shown that small fiber concentrations dominate in a dust cloud. This research project was conducted to develop a mathematical model whereby one...

The study population comprised 52 male printers and 52 controls. Each person was interviewed about job history, general health, and work-related symptoms. Symptoms from eyes and airways, neurological symptoms, and general symptoms were recorded. A lung function test and a measurement of the sense of smell were also carried out. The printers had significantly more eye, airway, and neurological s...

The story of streptomycin is no ordinary tale. On August 23rd, 1943, in an isolated basement room, a brave and determined graduate student, Albert Schatz, began his quest to cure tuberculosis. He, with his soil bacteria and virulent tubercle bacilli, was banished to that room by his supervisor Selman Waksman, who, like everyone else, dreaded the infection. Waksman never visited Schatz’s workroo...

This study was initiated to elucidate possible changes in types of organic solvents (to be called solvents in short) used in enterprises in Japan through comparison of current solvent types with historical data since 1983. To investigate current situation in solvent use in enterprises, surveys were conducted during one year of 2009 to 2010. In total, workroom air samples in 1,497 unit workplace...

Exposure to organic solvent vapors was investigated in 40 unit workplaces (with 189 workers) in 16 small-scale industries in north-east Japan (Tohoku District) in which synthetic urushi lacquer was applied to produce non-metal tableware (e.g. soup bowls, rice bowls), flower vases, home altars, etc. Two furniture factories were also studied. The equipment used was carbon felt dosimeters and a po...

The goal of this study was to assess the usage frequency, user satisfaction, and quality of literature searchers for a multi-application computer workstation in a university-based general medicine clinic. A computer with medical literature searching, textbook searching, and a decision-support program was deployed in the workroom of the clinic and made available for routine use. Data were collec...

To measure the hazard to the worker it is often necessary to determine the atmosphere concentration of mercury in a workroom. It should be borne in mind that inhalation of mercury, though probably the most dangerous, is not the only way by which mercury enters the body. It follows that a measurement of the mercury content of the atmosphere does not give a full indication of the hazard. Air anal...