Toxicology and hygiene assessment of production operations for synthetic fibers and products as a necessary aspect of occupational safety

Abstract

615.9:66.013.8 R. A. Molchanova, and T. I. SamsonovaThis paper is devoted to a major area of concern and an approach for hygiene and toxicology studies allowing us to estimate the potential risk to workers from chemicals and to recommend protective measures aimed at preservation of health. We present tentative safe exposure levels in atmospheric air and maximum permissible concentrations in the workplace for a number of chemicals, obtained as a result of toxicology animal studies. We demonstrate the capabilities of a method for rapid assessment in vitro of the general acute toxicity on the AT-05 image analyzer.In production of synthetic fi bers, a rather large number of chemical compounds are used that are assigned to different classes and have different toxicological characteristics. The substances used can have a complicated and combined effect on the human body, expressed as various pathological signs and symptoms ranging from allergic reactions to long-term effects. Under a chemical load, there is a change in the functional activity of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems and also the gastrointestinal tract and endocrine glands. The more intense the exposure to some chemical substances, the broader the range of systems in the living organism that undergo pathological alterations. Accordingly, a necessary aspect of occupational safety in plants producing synthetic fi ber materials is toxicology and hygiene studies, making it possible to assess potential risk from chemical substances and to recommend protective measures aimed at preservation of health. Toxicology studies are the basis for developing health standards for hazardous substances: maximum permissible skin exposure level, tentative safe exposure level, maximum permissible concentrations in the workplace, atmospheric air, and water in bodies of water. Such studies are important for developing new technologies or for incorporating into existing technology chemical compounds that do not have health standards for workplace air, atmospheric air, fi shery and drinking water.For conducting toxicology and hygiene studies, a toxicology laboratory was set up as part of the Testing Center of the Scientifi c Research Institute of Synthetic Fibers (Federal State Unitary Enterprise). The laboratory is accredited by the Federal Service for Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) in the Accreditation System for laboratories conducting public health studies and technical competency tests, and is entered in the National Register (Accreditation Certifi cate No. GSEN.RU.TsOA.253 dated 13 February 2008).The scope of the laboratory's activities includes: 1. Conducting full toxicology tests on starting materials and manufactured products of chemical fi bers and polymer materials using laboratory animals. The investigations include a range of research studies to determine the actual risk of the appearance of acute and chronic signs and symptoms when workers are exposed to chemicals. Special attention is focused on studying the effect of chemical ...

Bacterial communities inhabiting toxic industrial wastewater generated during nitrocellulose production

“…The cytotoxicity degree of the sample was calculated by a toxicity index It (in %), which estimates the ratio of sperm mobility in the tested sample to sperm mobility in a control sample. The tested sample is considered as non-cytotoxic, when It ranges from 70% to 120% (Chudinskaya et al 2011). To avoid the impact of pH on survival of test objects, the pH values in the samples were neutralized by using HCl solution before the toxicological analyses (Ribeiro et al 2013).…”