文章基本信息

标题：Formaldehyde Exposure, Health Symptoms and Risk Assessment among Hospital Workers in Malaysia
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作者：Sharifah Mazrah Sayed Mohamed Zain ; Wan Nurul Farah Wan Azmi ; Yuvaneswary Veloo 等
期刊名称：Journal of Environmental Protection
印刷版ISSN：2152-2197
电子版ISSN：2152-2219
出版年度：2019
卷号：10
期号：6
页码：861-879
DOI：10.4236/jep.2019.106051
语种：English
出版社：Scientific Research Publishing
摘要：Formaldehyde is a chemical commonly used in hospitals as a tissue preservative; histopathology laboratory personnel are therefore among the workers most heavily exposed to formaldehyde. This study measured the formaldehyde exposure through ambient and personal air sampling, assessed the symptoms of poor health as well as estimating the health risk among hospital workers. We conducted a comparative cross-sectional study of both histopathology laboratory (exposed) and administration (nonexposed) workers in four hospitals in the Klang Valley, Selangor, Malaysia. Ambient and personal exposure to formaldehyde was measured using the OSHA 52 and NIOSH 2541 methods, respectively. The 8-hr time-weighted-average formaldehyde concentration was higher in exposed areas (0.25 ± 0.11 ppm) than nonexposed areas (0.08 ± 0.02 ppm). Histopathology workers were exposed to between 140% and 480% higher concentrations of formaldehyde than administration workers. Personal exposure was highest during grossing tasks (0.797 ± 0.436 ppm). A total of 67% of the exposed workers exhibited the same ten health symptoms related to formaldehyde exposure, and 57% of the nonexposed workers reported similar symptoms at their current workplace. Notably, symptoms of eye irritation, headache, drowsiness, and chest tightness were significantly more prevalent (p
关键词：Healthcare Workers;Histopathology Laboratory;Health Risk Estimation;Occupational Exposure