Evaluación de intoxicación ocupacional por niveles de plomo sanguíneo en mecánicos automotrices y pintores del Cantón Machala período 2020

Abstract

Lead is an unnecessary heavy metal for the organism of living beings, its main sources of pollution are industrial such as the manufacture of glass, plumbing, automotive industry, painting among others. Environmental pollution caused by lead can cause serious health problems such as poisoning, alterations in the body and diseases, which can lead to severe symptoms such as headache, dizziness, emesis, asphyxiation, loss of consciousness among other signs such as death; being a xenobiotic metal, it has the ability to enter the body by respiratory, digestive, dermal and accumulate in organs and tissues of the human body, according to the World Health Organization, the plumbosis causes thousands of deaths every year and is responsible for 0,6% of global morbidity. For this reason, the purpose of this experimental work was to establish blood lead levels in the main risk groups as workers who handle paint and car batteries in the Machala canton in the 2019 period, the ages considered were 19 to 70 years, With a minimum work experience of 1 year to which they were given an informed consent and applied surveys to measure the degree of knowledge they had about lead. Taking into account standardized protocols, samples of venous blood were extracted, stored and transported to which an acid digestion was carried out in an oven with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide for its preparation. The quantification of lead to 50 blood samples was performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, considered as a sensitive and precise method for the analysis, with a margin of error of +/- 0.03%. The results were evidenced by statistical analysis with the IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0 software, it was evaluated that the degree of knowledge about lead was not sufficient in the study population, so information leaflets were delivered, lead levels were quantified where it was observed that 10% of workers have blood lead concentrations greater than 30 μg/dL which exceed the ranges established by OMS and OSHA (30 μg/dL) and this value is considered as acute poisoning by this analyte, 66 % of workers between 10.1 μg/dL at 29.9 μg/dL and 24% in ranges below 10 μg/dL. In addition, there is a higher concentration of lead in workers who handle paints with an average of 18.78 μg/dL compared to automotive mechanics who average 15.76 μg/dL. In conclusion, exposure to lead is a danger that requires taking preventive measures in the area of work, monitoring, protection and analysis towards workers to control the amount of lead in blood and thus protect the health of personnel, it is for This is why the Occupational Health and Safety Administration recommends wearing appropriate clothing when performing various work activities and another when heading home to avoid spreading lead contamination, taking hygiene measures before and after the workday, not consuming drinks or food inside of areas that could be contaminated and avoid cleaning areas that require moving dust in the form of dry sweeps.