Workers' exposure to dust and potentially toxic elements during steel cutting in two ship dismantling cases
Gunbeyaz, Sefer Anil and Giagloglou, Eva and Kurt, Rafet Emek and Garmer Rogge, Karin and McKenna, Stuart A. and Turan, Osman and Lord, Richard (2023) Workers' exposure to dust and potentially toxic elements during steel cutting in two ship dismantling cases. Ocean Engineering, 270. 113628. ISSN 0029-8018 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2023.113628)
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Abstract
Ship dismantling is the recommended recycling solution for the end of a ship’s life, but the process is not free of occupational risk. Despite proper regulations, there are underlying chemical and physical hazards, mainly due to the cutting of steel parts, which is the core of the recycling process. The overall aim of this research study is to determine, in two case study examples, the ship recycling workers’ potential occupational exposure by inhalation of chemical agents generated by the torch cutting process of coated and de-coated steel. This was carried out specifically through (i) monitoring and measuring ship recycling workers’ local environment for the inhalable (total dust) and respirable (fine dust) fractions during their working operations, (ii) analysing the heavy metal content of the dust and (iii) calculating and comparing this against occupational exposure limits, (v) comparing de-coating operations with cutting of coated and de-coated steel. Results of this study show that without further mitigation workers involved in torch cutting processes are at high risk of exposure to heavy metals by inhalation as these are exceeding the norms defined by regulatory bodies.
ORCID iDs
Gunbeyaz, Sefer Anil ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5624-1845, Giagloglou, Eva ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7754-5437, Kurt, Rafet Emek ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5923-0703, Garmer Rogge, Karin, McKenna, Stuart A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8254-9958, Turan, Osman and Lord, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5737-5140;-
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Item type: Article ID code: 83780 Dates: DateEvent15 February 2023Published14 January 2023Published Online2 January 2023AcceptedSubjects: Technology > Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering Department: Faculty of Engineering > Naval Architecture, Ocean & Marine Engineering
Strategic Research Themes > Energy
Faculty of Engineering > Civil and Environmental EngineeringDepositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 20 Jan 2023 12:15 Last modified: 05 Nov 2024 12:39 URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/83780