This paper emphasizes the need for occupational hygiene professionals to require evidence of the quality of welding fume data from analytical laboratories. The measurement of metals in welding fume using atomic spectrometric techniques is a complex analysis often requiring specialist digestion procedures. The results from a trial programme testing the proficiency of laboratories in the Workplac...

AIMS A case-control study was carried out between 1998 and 2000 to investigate the relation between systemic sclerosis and occupational exposure. METHODS Eighty cases of systemic sclerosis admitted consecutively to the Department of Internal Medicine at the University Hospital of Tours from 1998 to 2000 were included. For each case, two age, gender, and smoking habits matched controls hospita...

Introduction: Results from several studies indicate that workplace exposure to welding fumes is associated with increased frequency of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in exposed workers. Objective: To assess the prevalence and characteristics of COPD in never-smoking welders. Methods: A cross-sectional study including 53 never-smoking male welders (aged 35–60 years) was performed, ...

Metal fume fever (MFF) is an important occupational-related illness resulting from inhalation of volatile metal oxides, especially zinc, that are produced during welding or cutting of metal materials. Onset of MFF is rapid, occurring within a few hours after inhalation of the fumes. Symptoms include fever, chills, cough, dyspnea, headache, myalgia, and malaise. Symptoms are self-limiting and ty...

PURPOSE Welders are exposed to airborne particles from the welding environment and often develop symptoms work-related from the airways. A large fraction of the particles from welding are in the nano-size range. In this study we investigate if the welders' airways are affected by exposure to particles derived from gas metal arc welding in mild steel in levels corresponding to a normal welding d...

Epidemiological studies of cancer incidence among welders disclose a pooled total of 146 cases of leukemia observed versus 159.46 expected, a risk ratio of 0.92, and 40 cases of acute leukemia observed versus 43.39 expected, a risk ratio of 0.92. For respiratory tract cancer, the pooled total is 1789 cases observed versus 1290.7 expected, a risk ratio of 1.39. Most electric welders are exposed ...

Welders are more susceptible to pneumococcal pneumonia. The mechanisms are yet unclear. Pneumococci co-opt the platelet activating factor receptor (PAFR) to infect respiratory epithelial cells. We previously reported that exposure of respiratory cells to welding fumes (WF), upregulates PAFR-dependent pneumococcal infection. The signaling pathway for this response is unknown, however, in intesti...

The dissolution of stainless steel welding fumes produced by manual metal arc (MMA) and metal inert gas (MIG) techniques was studied by transmission electron microscopy and quantitative x ray microanalysis in the lungs of rats after inhalation exposure. Rats exposed to stainless steel fumes generated by MMA were found to have two particle populations of different behaviour in their lung tissue....