Airborne exposure and soil levels associated with lead abatement of a steel tank

Abstract

This study reports on airborne exposure levels and soil concentrations of lead in regard to abatement of a steel structure (water tank). The tank was de-leaded by abrasive sand blasting. The ball of the tank had a lead surface level that exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) definition of lead-based paint (LBP) (0.5% lead), but paint on stem and base was below this criterion. Personal and area airborne samples were collected during different activities of lead abatement of the tank. Summary results suggest during abrasive blasting of ball and stem/base personal exposure levels, as reported with arithmetic and geometric means, exceed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) permissible exposure limit (50 microg/m3). Highest personal exposure (occupational exposure) was associated with blasting of ball. Distribution of airborne and soil samples suggest non-normality and is best represented by a logarithmic form. Geometric standard deviations for air and soil lead support a non-normal distribution. Outlying values were found for personal and area air samples. Exposure levels associated with blasting stem/base section of tank support OSHA's policy requiring air monitoring of work at levels below the criterion established by EPA in identifying LBP. Area samples were statistically lower than personal samples associated with blasting ball and stem/base of tank. Exposure data suggest that workers performing abatement on steel structures have elevated lead exposure from surface lead. Respirator protection requirements are discussed. Soil lead concentration was suggested to decrease as distance increased from tank. Soil lead is suggested to be a result of deposition from LBP on tank surface. Minimal efforts were required to reduce average lead soil levels below EPA's upper acceptable criterion (1200 ppm Pb).

Sensitive, portable heavy-metal-ion detection by the sulfidation method on a superhydrophobic concentrator (SPOT)

“…12,14 Efficient SPOT detection in real and artificial samples Another important attribute of an efficient sensor lies in its ability to accurately detect analytes in real-world samples, which typically comprise a complex pool of molecular and particulate interference. To demonstrate SPOT sensing in real-world applications, we spiked 10 À3 , 10 À5 , and 10 À10 M Pb 2+ ion into soil extract, tap water, and artificial Pb smelter wastewater to mimic Pb contamination in actual environmental, household, and industrial scenarios (Figure S28; refer to the experimental procedures), 4,30 respectively. We filtered all samples before spiking them with Pb 2+ ion to directly assess SPOT detection performance in real and artificial samples by eliminating potential analyte loss during sample pre-treatments.…”

“…This sample preparation was designed to simulate soil contamination whereby Pb concentration exceeded the US EPA permissible limit of 1,200 ppm in soil (nonplay area). 30 For tap water, 10 mL of household tap water was passed through a syringe filter with a pore size of 0.45 mm for the removal of any solid residues. An ll Article aqueous Pb 2+ solution (0.01 mL of 10 À3 M) was then added into 0.99 mL of filtered tap water to yield an effective spiked Pb 2+ concentration of 10 À5 M (or $2.07 ppm) without significantly affecting the sample matrix.…”

Toxicological analysis of ambient monitoring in metal industry

“…Lange [21] je utvrdio da čak i niske koncentracije olova u vazduhu mogu prouzrokovati visoke koncentracije olova u krvi, što se objašnjava prekomernom apsorpcijom koja najpre zavisi od biološke kontrole. .…”