職場生物氣膠暴露評估及健康危害研究

Exposure Assessment and Health Effects of Bioaerosols in Occupational Environments

陳逸滄(Yi-Tsang Chen)

指導教授 ： 趙馨

臺北醫學大學/公共衛生暨營養學院/公共衛生學系暨研究所/碩士(2014年)

摘要

許多職業環境中常有高濃度的生物氣膠暴露，如家畜養殖場、堆肥業等，員工易有呼吸道感染、肺功能下降、過敏等健康危害，是重要的職業衛生問題。因此本研究進行高生物氣膠暴露職場調查，評估生物氣膠對勞工健康的影響。本研究針對我國五類作業場所進行調查，包括花店、養雞場、養菇場、蔬菜園及堆肥場。採樣使用IOM sampler 搭配polycarbonate 濾紙以及Andersen N6 sampler進行個人及區域採樣，並利用問卷調查及肺功能測量評估勞工的健康情形。五類職場個人生物氣膠平均濃度範圍分別為可培養細菌324－1.16×106 CFU/m3，可培養真菌871－2.53×104 CFU/m3，內毒素33－3592 EU/m3，總真菌孢子3420－36142 spores/m3，總細菌2.66×105－2.30×106 Cells/m3。整體而言，養雞場的生物氣膠暴露濃度最高，各類職場生物氣膠種類與濃度會因現場的環境狀況與工作活動情形而有很大的變異。根據廻歸分析結果，有多種生物氣膠與員工健康間有顯著相關，包括內毒素與多種真菌。在本研究中，五種職場的生物氣膠濃度都相當高，特別是內毒素最容易超過國際上內毒素的建議值90 EU/m3，因此應加強環境控制降低勞工生物氣膠暴露，並鼓勵勞工使用適當的個人防護具。

關鍵字

生物氣膠 ； 生物性職業危害 ； 職業衛生 ； 個人暴露評估

並列摘要

Various occupational environments have high bioaerosol exposure, such as poultry farms, composting facilities, etc. Exposure to high levels of bioaerosols at workplace is a significant occupational health issue, which might result in respiratory infections, decreased lung function and allergies of the workers. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the impact of bioaerosols on workers’ health at occupational settings with high bioaerosol levels. Five kinds of important occupational settings were investigated, including florists, chicken farms, mushroom farms, vegetable fields, and composting facilities. Personal and area samplings were performed using the IOM sampler with polycarbonate filters and the Andersen N6 sampler. Questionnaires and lung function measurements were used to evaluate workers’ health. According to the results, the ranges of average personal exposure levels of all workplaces were: culturable bacteria 324 - 1.16×106 CFU/m3, culturable fungi 871 - 2.53×104 CFU/m3, endotoxin 33 - 3592 EU/m3, total fungal spores 3420 - 36142 spores/m3, and total bacteria 2.66×105 - 2.30×106 Cells/m3. Overall, chicken farms had the highest bioaerosol levels. The types and concentrations of bioaerosols had significant variation, depending on the environmental conditions and work activities on site. According to the regression analyses, many bioaerosols, such as endotoxin and various fungal taxa, were significantly associated with workers’ health. In this study, the bioaerosol concentrations were high in all of the study occupational settings, and the endotoxin concentrations frequently exceeded the international recommendation of 90 EU/m3. Thus it is important to lower bioaerosol exposure of the workers through environmental control and proper use of personal protection equipment

並列關鍵字

bioaerosols ； biological occupational hazard ； occupational health ； personal exposure assessment

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