Occupational exposure to mercury vapor in a compact fluorescent lamp factory: Evaluation of personal, ambient air, and biological monitoring

Abstract

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have become a popular lighting choice in recent years despite the good performance of light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. The CFLs that have been produced recently contain 1.5–3.5 mg Hg/lamp. There is evidence that even low doses of mercury are toxic. This study aimed to assess occupational exposure to mercury vapor in workers of a CFLs factory by determining mercury levels in personal and ambient air samples and urine of workers. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 59 workers in a CFLs factory in Iran. Personal and ambient air sampling of mercury vapor levels (MVLs) was performed during a workday. In total, 10 personal samples and 10 ambient air samples of mercury vapor were collected simultaneously from different units of the factory. Urine samples were collected before the work shift. Samples were analyzed using a cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometer (CVAAS). The mean of the MVLs in the personal and ambient air samples was 14.78 ± 5.76 and 67.10 ± 59.37 µg.m−3, respectively. The highest MVL was measured for the production line supervisor (25 µg.m−3). There was a significant correlation between the MVLs in the ambient air and personal samples ( r = 0.84, p = 0.005). The mean urinary mercury level (UML) was 13.85 ± 13.14 µg/g creatinine. The UML of 86.4% workers was below the 20 µg/g creatinine recommended by the Centre of Environmental and Occupational Health in Iran. There were significant differences between the UMLs in different areas of the factory ( p = 0.041). Lamp breakage was an important determinant of exposure to mercury vapor; hence, effective programs to control mercury vapor are essential in the CFLs industry.