Sampling Method for Welding Fumes and Toxic Gases in Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

In 2009 there were 28,840 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia which represented 94.2 % of the total establishments in the manufacturing sector. Job tasks in manufacturing sectors above all involve welding processes. The issues in SMEs mainly resolve around poor working conditions contributing to worker’s safety and health problem. Welding fumes and toxic gas assessment in SMEs welding workplace is essential in order to ensure the minimum level of exposure is maintained as required by the prevailing standards. This paper outlines the methodology for fumes and toxic gas sampling by taking into account analytical method currently available for analysis in the government accredited laboratory. The proposed methods are divided into two; the pilot test and the actual measurement. Standardize sampling method using sampling pump along with direct reading measurement are consider in both the pilot test and actual measurement. The proposed sampling method hopefully will benefit researcher, stakeholders or SMEs by giving guidance on the suitable method for welding workplace assessment.


Introduction
Welding is a common industrial process. Hazard that has both acute and long-term chronic effects is welding fumes/ particulate matters and toxic gases. Fumes are solid particles that originate from welding consumables, the base metal and any coatings present on the base metal. In welding, the intense heat of the arc or flame vaporizes the base metal and electrode coating. This vaporized metal condenses into tiny particles called fumes that can be inhaled. The thermal effects can cause agglomeration of the particles into particle chains and clusters that can be deposited in the human respiratory tract (Ashby, 2002;Fiore, 2006;Ravert, 2006). Most of the particles in welding fumes are less than 1µm in diameter when produced, but they appear to grow in size with time due to agglomeration (Mansouri, Atbi, Moharamnezhad, Rahbaran & Alahiari, 2008;Isaxon et al., 2009). Toxic gases also produce from welding processes which include nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone. These toxic gases can cause pulmonary oedema, headache and drowsiness (Blunt & Balchin, 2000).
The hazards of welding depends on several factors, 1) type of welding being performed, 2) material the electrode being made, 3) type of material being welded, 4) presence of coatings on the metal, 5) voltage and current used and 6) type of ventilation (Blunt & Balchin, 2000;Hewitt, 2001).
Small enterprise is define as sales turnover between RM250, 000 and RM10 million or full time employees between 5 and 50. Meanwhile medium enterprise is define as sales turnover between RM10 million and RM25 million or full time employees between 51 and 150 (Small Medium Enterprise Corporation, 2010). From the stand point of industrial hygiene, the small and medium enterprises have vulnerability that must be recognized. This can attributes to a number of factors including the subordinate nature of smaller companies to larger ones, immaturity of management organizations, insufficient human resources, and delayed adoption of new technologies and equipment. As a consequences, in general, working conditions tend to be poorer, the work environment is worse, there is more hazardous work associated with higher rates of industrial accidents and occupational diseases, worker safety measures are more likely to be neglected, and there is a greater dependence on unstable sources of labor such as part time workers than in case of larger companies (Hajime et al., 2006). Currently in Malaysia, according to Occupational Safety and Health Act, under the Use and Standard of Exposure of Chemical Hazardous to Health (USECHH) of Occupational Safety and Health, chemical health risk assessment (CHRA) need to be carried out by an assessor appointed by the employer. A chemical health risk assessment report is produced by the assessor which includes potential risk, nature of hazard to health, method and procedure in the use of chemical, degree of exposure and control measures (Department of Safety and Health [DOSH], 2002;DOSH, 2006). SMEs have difficulty in complying with this requirement due to the extra cost that need to be borne when appointing an assessor. Thus, this study is carried out by outlining sampling method that can be used to assess welding fumes and toxic gases in welding related workplace in Malaysia.

Method
The chemical exposure due to the welding process in forms of fumes and toxic gases are enormous in quantity. In this study, the limitation is the available laboratory analytical method for analyzing the fumes and toxic gas samples. The government accredited laboratory in Malaysia is the Industrial Hygiene Analytical Laboratory of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Malaysia. Currently this laboratory capable of analyzing welding fumes sample using the atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) equipment for scanning one metal element per sample as shown in Table 1. The price per sample for one metal element analysis is range between (Malaysian Ringgit) MYR 50 to MYR 60. Unfortunately none of the laboratory analysis on toxic gases is available except for the non-government laboratory that required higher cost up to 500% for analyzing a sample. However, according to NIOSH Manual of Analytical Method (NMAM) 6604, the concentration of carbon dioxide can be measured using portable direct reading instrument using electrochemical sensor techniques (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH], 1996). Since these proposed sampling method is developed for the SMEs, a structured sampling and analysis approach should be arranged which enables the most efficient use of resources.  (Coffey & Pearce, 2010). Thus, series of hazard screening by using direct reading equipments although maybe less accurate, would be the best choice for hazard screening/ pilot testing purpose. This is most benefited especially in our case when the accredited laboratory have limitation in analyzing the exposure of interest such as other sources of toxic gases and particulate matters that may exist in the investigated workplace.
Currently only direct reading instrument for toxic gas are available. While on the other hand, welding fumes can be preliminary analyze by using scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) to shortlist the metal element exists. Jenkins and Eager highlighted that the SEM-EDS found to be effective techniques for evaluating the elemental composition of welding fumes after conducted a comparison study with inductively coupled mass spectroscopy (ICPMS), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), neutron activation analysis (NAA), X-ray induced photo electron spectrometry (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (TEM EDS) (Jenkins & Eager, 2005). However it is also highlighted that the usage of SEM-EDS would be accurate only on particles size larger than half of micrometer www.ccsenet.org/eer Energy and Environment Research Vol. 2, No. 2;2012 size. In our cases, the welding fume sample is collected onto 0.8 micrometer mixed cellulose ester filter according to suggested filters for welding fumes by NIOSH ( DOSH, 2005). Figure 1 shows the example of metal element analysis that had been done by using SEM-EDS in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia for welding fumes sample conducted during student welding practice in welding laboratory. A personal sampling of welding fumes using sampling pump with 0.8 micrometer mixed cellulose ester filter were attached to the breathing zone of the welder for four hours with flowrate setting of 3 m/s. The filters were then cut into four equal sections, coated and mounted on the stubs SEM-EDS which is an adapted method from Antonini et al. (2006). The analysis shows the trace of Manganese (Mn) and Ferum (Fe) elements with 5.9 mass % and 21.67 mass% respectively that can be analyze further using personal sampling pump focused on these two shortlisted metal elements of interest. The other elements such as Sodium (Na), Silicon (Si) , Carbon (C) and Potassium(K) are usually found in welding fumes but not generally considered to be of hygienic significance (Yeo & Neo 1998).

Figure 1. Example of SEM-EDS analysis of metal elements in sampled welding fumes
The structural physical sampling for welding fumes and toxic gases will be conduct according to the strategies outlined in Table 2. Whereas pilot test will be conducted before the actual measurement being carried out for both toxic gases and welding fumes. Figure 2 shows the direct reading instrument designated as Graywolf Directsense toxic gas monitor TG501 for measuring carbon monoxide toxic gases using an electrochemical sensor. It is connected to pocket pc as data logging platform. Figure 3 shows the same direct reading instrument with additional accessories suitable for personal sampling purpose. Additional accessories needed for personal sampling include hood, tubing and air sampling pump.  Table 2. Propose sampling method for toxic gases and welding fumes in welding related SMEs

Toxic gases Welding Fumes
Pilot Test a) Conduct pilot test of fixed point sampling for toxic gases (carbon monoxide) before welding process executed using direct reading instrument b) Analyze the data collection to make sure no other source of contaminant exist a) Conduct pilot test of fixed point sampling for particulate matters (range from 0.1 to 10 microns particle sizes) before welding process executed using direct reading instrument b) Analyze the data collection to make sure no other source of contaminant exist c) Conduct preliminary personal sampling of welding fumes using sampling pump and filter media d) Analyze welding fumes collected using SEM-EDS to shortlist element for further investigation Actual Measurement a) Conduct personal sampling of welder during welding process using direct reading instrument b) Analyze the data collection to identified presence of carbon monoxide toxic gas a) Conduct personal sampling of the shortlisted element using standardize sampling method b) Conduct standardize laboratory method analysis   Figure 4 show the direct reading instrument known as the TSI Dustrak aerosol monitor using 90 degree light scattering photometer for measuring dust/particulate matters (range from 0.1 to 10 microns particle sizes). Figure 4. A direct reading instrument using 90 degree light scattering for measuring dust/particulate matters (range from 0.1 to 10 microns particle sizes) in area sampling Table 3 shows the proposed sampling method for pilot test in welding related SMEs. Area sampling for carbon monoxide and particulate matters will be done using direct reading instruments. Meanwhile one sample of welding fumes from the highest risk workers should be personal sampled using sampling pump in order to be analyzed with the SEM-EDS. Highest risk workers are selected by considering these 4 factors (   Propose sampling time: At least 20 sample with 1 minutes interval for homogeneous workers performing similar task (British Standard, 1996) Pilot test measurement of particulate matters (range from 0.1 to 10 microns particle sizes) before welding process executed to make sure no other source of contaminant exist   At least one employee in ten in a properly selected homogeneous group performing similar tasks (British Standard, 1996) Actual measurement for personal sampling of welding fumes according to the shortlisted metal element to investigate Personal sampling pump, filter holder and cassette, filter media, connecting tube.

Conclusion
It is important that the sample taken on each selected enterprises represent the investigated welder population before any conclusion is make on the workplace safety level. It is most important to analyze the exposure data in correct manner and understanding before comparing with the minimum exposure level standard. The proposed methods were outline after considering the available analytical method offered by the government accredited lab and available direct reading instrument in the author's universities. This proposed sampling method is hope to benefit researcher, stakeholders or SMEs by giving guidance on the suitable method for welding workplace assessment in the light of providing a sustainable work environment.