Semi-Quantitative Assessment of the Health Risk of Occupational Exposure to Chemicals and Evaluation of Spirometry Indices on the Staff of PetrochemicalIndustry

Background & Aims of the Study: Petrochemical industry is an important industry in theeconomic development of the country that causes employees have exposure with severalkinds of contamination. The aim of this study was Semi-quantitative assessment of thehealth risk of occupational exposure to chemical materials and investigation of spirometryindices between employees of petrochemical industry.Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in one of thepetrochemical industry complex in a special area of Assaluyeh in Iran in 2016. Health riskassessment of exposure to harmful chemical agents was performed in all of units and duringthree stages (identification of harmful material, determination of hazard rate of thechemical material, exposure rate and estimate of risk rate). Spirometry indices weremeasured using spirometry.Results: The results of chemical materials risk assessment showed that Raffinate inButadiene unit has identified the highest amount of risk rank among 27 chemical materialsin investigated units. In comparison with spirometry indices in Olefine unit between agewith FVC parameter and history work with FVC and FEV1 parameters has observed asignificant and negative correlation (P<0.05).Conclusion: The results of risk assessment in all of the petrochemical units showed that48.14% of materials were at low risk level, 29.62% medium risk, 18.51% high risk and3.7% had very high risk level. The variables affecting on spirometry employees such as ageand work experience play an important role in reducing the pulmonary function tests inexposed subjects.