Occupational Lead Exposure from Indoor Firing Ranges in Korea

Abstract

Military personnel often use ammunitions that contain lead. The present study aimed to identify the risks for lead exposure and lead poisoning among workers at indoor firing ranges. A special health examination, including blood lead level (BLL) testing, was performed for all 120 workers at the indoor firing ranges of the Republic of Korea’s Air Force, Navy, and Armed Forces Athletic Corps. The overall mean BLL was 11.3 ± 9.4 µg/dL (range: 2.0–64.0 µg/dL). The arithmetic mean of the BLL for professional shooters belong to Armed Forces Athletic Corps was 14.0 ± 8.3 µg/dL, while those of shooting range managers and shooting range supervisors were 13.8 ± 11.1 µg/dL and 6.4 ± 3.1 µg/dL, respectively. One individual had a BLL of 64 µg/dL, and ultimately completed chelation treatment (with CaNa2-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) without any adverse effects. These findings indicate that indoor firing range workers are exposed to elevated levels of lead. Therefore, when constructing an indoor firing range, a specialist should be engaged to design and assess the ventilation system; and safety guidelines regarding ammunition and waste handling must be mandatory. Moreover, workplace environmental monitoring should be implemented for indoor firing ranges, and the workers should undergo regularly scheduled special health examinations.

Occupational Exposure to Metals in Shooting Ranges: A Biomonitoring Study

“…The total number of participants in previous studies varied from two [4] to 367 [10] . In most studies with larger numbers [8] , [10] , [11] , the included participants were occasional shooters rather than shooting range employees, whereas our study included shooting range personnel, although fewer than in the recent study of Park et al [19] . In contrast to the latter study, we included maintenance staff which is also a strength of our study because this group is often forgotten when studying shooting ranges.…”

“…Shooting ranges are used for occupational and recreational training in many countries. In the past decades, various studies have evaluated metal exposure from ammunition [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] , with a focus on lead, as demonstrated in a recent review [20] . Nowadays, however, lead exposure has been reduced by measures such as better ventilation systems, jacketed ammunition, and lead-free primers [21] .…”

Metallic Fumes at Indoor Military Shooting Ranges: Lead, Copper, Nickel, and Zinc in Different Fractions of Airborne Particulate Matter

“…The problem of high heavy metal levels military personnel can be exposed to has been noted before [20]. Current knowledge is mostly limited to the toxicity of lead, because most ammunition contains it [16,21,34]. According to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, employees should not be exposed to over 50 mg/m 3 of airborne lead averaged over an eight hour period, and action must be taken if the concentration is 30 mg/m 3 or more [35].…”

“…Few studies have investigated heavy metals at indoor shooting ranges in relation to potential adverse health effects and most focused on lead (Pb). They found lead-containing ammunition can produce elevated levels of lead in the blood [16][17][18][19][20][21]. Exposure to lead may produce several health symptoms, such as hypertension, hyper-reflexia, tremors, and upper extremity weakness [22].…”

Lead Poisoning at an Indoor Firing Range

“…Indoor firing ranges with poor ventilation systems increase the risk of exposure to shooting by-products (e.g., heavy metals), compared to outdoor firing ranges ( Fig. 1 ) ( 4 5 ). Thus far, in Korea, no special health management was undertaken for indoor firing range workers since they were not recognized as heavy metal exposure workers.…”