engleski

Safety and health at work in Foundry

To assess the effect of modernization of the foundry plant on physical and chemical health hazards at work environment. The modernization of the foundry plant included reconstruction of furnaces for the reception and preparation of liquid metal, new closing system, the door of the furnace without water cooling elements, new casting billets technology with modification adding machine that enables casting option in three parameters, technology for casted slabs, new machine for little aluminium beam casting, rolling mill for Al-wire production and treatment of butts. Periodical measurements of chemical and physical agents were performed in the work environment at the same workplaces by using the same methods of measurement before and after the modernization. The measured values compared with the recommended Occupational Safety and Health Standards. The presence of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and hydrogen fluoride in concentrations above the maximum allowed values were significant reduced after the reconstruction and modernization. After the modernization, high concentration of chlorine has remained the biggest problem, because chlorine not only irritates the respiratory system and eyes, but is also described as a factor that increases the risk of lung cancer. The number of workplaces with a high noise level reduced significant from 78.4% (29/37) to 13.0% (3/23) after modernization. The value of temperature, air flow, and relative humidity did not considerably change. The firs step modernization of the factory has considerably reduced the amount of harmful chemical agents that workers exposed them. However, the exposure to

aluminium industry; foundry; chemical harmful

nije evidentirano