Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 3.0

Occupational Health Hazards among Double Sided Printed Circuit Board Manufacturers

A. El Safty, S. Helal, N. Abdel Maksoud, A. Samir

Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology · pp. 1634–1643 · Published 15 Feb 2014

10.9734/BJAST/2014/7903

Abstract

  Workers in printed circuit boards (PrCBs) industry have a long history of occupational exposures to toxic substances, however little is known about the long-term health consequences of such exposure. Aims: To determine the prevalence of some health problems among manufacturers of printed circuit boards and to formulate recommendations for occupational safety and health at this factory. Subjects and Methods: A case-control study was conducted in the first double sided printed circuit board manufacturing factory in Egypt, during the period from December 2012 to January 2013. Fifty three workers engaged in the process of printed circuit board manufacture were matched with sixty six referent subjects from the administrative department. All workers were personally interviewed filling a special questionnaire involving occupational history and full clinical examination. Investigations as Lead, Cadmium, serum copper and zinc levels were measured. Results: Eighten exposed workers (34%), had occupational asthma; 7 (13.2%) had contact dermatitis; 8 (15.1%) had ocular manifestations versus 11 (16.7%); 1 (1.5%); 4 (6.1%); 1 (1.5%) respectively for the control group. Blood levels of lead (48.84±10.0 versus. 13.60±4.70, p<0.001), cadmium (35.09±14.0 versus 23.90±5.70, p<0.001), and copper (1.32±0.64 versus 0.94±0.33, p<0.001), were statistically significantly higher among the exposed group than controls, while zinc levels (40.75±19.34 versus 77.31±15.21, p<0.001) were statistically significantly lower among the exposed group than controls. Blood levels of lead (r=. 543; p<. 001) and copper (r=. 463; p<. 001) were found to be positively correlated with the duration of employment. Conclusion: PrCBs manufacturing has been implicated with many health problems. Recommendations: Proper safety measures should be enforced in the workplace. Pre-employment and periodic medical examination should be done for exposed workers. Further studies are recommended for PrCBs workers.

Printed circuit boards Heavy metals-Occupational asthma Contact dermatitis Health Hazards

References (19)

  1. 1 Recycling of waste printed circuit boards: A review of current technologies and treatment status in China [DOI]
  2. 2 Elevated Blood Lead Levels of Children in Guiyu, an Electronic Waste Recycling Town in China [DOI]
  3. 3 Printed circuit board industry [DOI]
  4. 4 Progression of Asthma Measured by Lung Function in the Childhood Asthma Management Program [DOI]
  5. 5 Leaching of Lead from Computer Printed Wire Boards and Cathode Ray Tubes by Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Leachates [DOI]
  6. 6 Effects of lead and cadmium exposure from electronic waste on child physical growth [DOI]
  7. 7 Liberation characteristic and physical separation of printed circuit board (PCB) [DOI]
  8. 8 RCRA Toxicity Characterization of Discarded Electronic Devices [DOI]
  9. 9 Influence of Vitamin C and Vitamin E on testicular zinc content and testicular toxicity in lead exposed albino rats [DOI]
  10. 10 The Effect of Occupational Lead Exposure on Blood Levels of Zinc, Iron, Copper, Selenium and Related Proteins [DOI]
  11. 11 Prevalence and risk factors of occupational hand dermatoses in electronics workers [DOI]
  12. 12 Ultrafine Aerosols in the Workplace [DOI]
  13. 13 Factors affecting TCLP lead leachability from computer CPUs [DOI]
  14. 14 Fiberglass dermatitis from printed circuit boards [DOI]
  15. 15 Dermatological hazards in the electronics industry [DOI]
  16. 16 Metal fume fever [DOI]
  17. 17 Identification and chemical characterization of particulate matter from wave soldering processes at a printed circuit board manufacturing company [DOI]
  18. 18 Dermatitis in a printed‐circuit board manufacturing facility [DOI]
  19. 19 [Evaluation of the impact of night-work on health in a population of workers in Tuscany].

Cited by 1

Efek cadmium pada pekerja las bengkel knalpot di Purbalingga

Septiono Bangun Sugiharto, Suwarso Suwarso, Widharto Prawirohardjono · Berita Kedokteran Masyarakat · 2016

Related research

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

15

Page views

0

PDF downloads

1

Outbound clicks

1

Citations

Views over time

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.