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Dust entry

Lead-acid battery recycling dust

Lead-containing dust generated during automotive lead-acid battery breaking, recycling, and secondary smelting.

Airborne form

dust

The form describes what is suspended in air at the point of exposure. A material can produce more than one form, such as dust during handling and fume during heating.

Health effects

lead overexposureelevated blood lead levelslead-related symptomsworkplace and take-home contamination

Evidence

A NIOSH evaluation at an automotive lead-acid battery recycling plant found airborne lead overexposures among foundry, battery-breaker, warehouse, and maintenance employees; lead was present on work surfaces and employee skin, 85% of interviewed employees reported at least one symptom potentially related to lead overexposure, and 78% had elevated average blood-lead levels.

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Description · 1
We found (1) airborne lead overexposures among foundry, battery breaker, and some warehouse and maintenance employees; (2) lead on most work surfaces and on employees' skin after they took a shower at the end of the work day; (3) 85% of interviewed employees reported at least one symptom that could be related to lead overexposure; (4) 78% of employees had an elevated average blood lead level (at or above 10 µg/dL).

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