Health risk assessment of chemical toxicants in a storage battery production enterprise

Objective To evaluate the occupational health risk due to exposure to chemical toxicants in a storage battery production enterprise in Shenzhen City and to provide orientation for the identification of critical control points and then control such occupational hazards. Methods Occupational health investigation on this battery production enterprise was done and all information on chemical use and related data of occupational health work were collected. The Singapore occupational exposure semi-quantitative risk assessment method was used to make health risk assessment. Results The risk caused by the lead dust and/or lead fume at working positions such as bales plate, packing, capping, polar group series connection, polar group and terminal welding was high,while the risk caused by the sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide and ethyl acetate at working positions such as adding acid,cleaning,sealing glue was low. Conclusion The enterprise should pay more attention to the health risk due to lead dust and/or lead fume and effective measures should be taken to protect the workers' health.