Manganese Biological Monitoring of Occupational Exposure in Blood Serum Samples from Ferrous Foundry Workers

Manganese (Mn) using as raw material for melting process in ferrous foundry and it is considered as a hazardous neurotoxic substance. The furnace-men and melting department workers are potentially exposed to manganese particles or fume in the workplace which accumulates in their central nervous system and neurological disorder observed for exposed workers. The objective of the research was to investigate the sources and levels of manganese exposure in the foundry by correlation of blood-manganese (B-Mn) and airmanganese (air-Mn) measurement. Air-Mn and B-Mn were measured involving workers (case= 35, control=35) who worked in a big size foundry during one year. The standard method of OSHAID121 was used for air and blood assessment and atomic absorbsion spectroscopy (AAS) was carried out for air and blood sample analysis. The air sampling results revealed that there is a high exposure to manganese (4.5 mg/m ) in the 3 workplace compare to NIOSH time weighted average (Reference TWA= 1 mg/m ). The average blood Mn 3 concentration were 2.745 and 274.85 μg/l for less than three months (n=35) and 3-12 months working experience (n= 35), respectively, it imply that there is a high accumulation of manganese in their blood. Risk assessment based on mutual evaluations of B-Mn and air-Mn seems to be valid in the understanding of workers' hazard. Our study indicates that B-Mn assessment by AAS may be a precious procedure for estimation of exposure condition based on working experience (more than 3 months).