Monitoring and assessment of potentially hazardous particles in high-risk workplaces in the production of Ni-Cd batteries

The manufacture of Ni-Cd batteries involves the risk of contact with and inhalation of dust particles containing heavy metals, including potential carcinogens. Three workplaces were selected that appeared to pose the greatest risk to workers in terms of exposure to heavy metal (nickel and cadmium) dust generated during the production and handling of nickel-cadmium plates. Although the limits for dust and carcinogens and mutagens are very strict, they are gradually being tightened. Therefore, the main motivation was to find the source of the highest amounts of respirable particles, determine the size of the particles, the composition of the fraction and evaluated potential toxicity of particles captured on the filters. This will help to propose additional measures to minimise concentrations of potentially carcinogenic particles in the working environment. The chemical analysis, particle size distribution, metal content and cytotoxicity of the particles trapped on the filters were investigated. While the concentration of heavy metals was well below the permissible exposure limits, the extracts obtained from the sampled filters had a significant effect on cytotoxicity, particularly those containing lower concentrations of particles.