N035
Preventive
Measures for Workers of Incineration Plants from Exposure to Dioxin
Mitsuhiro Kudo
Occupational Health Research and
5-35-2, Shiba,
Minato-ku,
Tel: +81-3-3452-3977 Fax: +81-3-3452-4807 e-mail: m-kudo@jisha.or.jp
ABSTRACT
The dioxin
problem was first recognized by the detection of dioxin in mother’s milk in
1998. The Ministry of Health and Welfare
(Currently, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare,
MHLW) reported the detection of dioxin ranging from 0.39 – 8.8ng TEQ/g in the
soil around a municipal incineration plant for waste treatment at Nose-cho,
The Ministry of Labour (Currently, MHLW) performed the health
examination of workers in response to this report about the effect of dioxin
exposure. The surveillance detected the
higher level of dioxin in the workers’ blood ranging from 13.4 – 805.8 pgTEQ/g lipid with the average of
84.8pgTEQ/g lipid in comparison with the level of 1.3～53pgTEQ/g lipid (2001.12) of the inhabitants around the
plant.
The Government issued
the Principle for the Promotion of Preventive Measures for Dioxin Exposure, and
announced the tolerable day intake level of dioxin, and enacted the Regulation
for Prevention of Dioxin Effect (Legislation No. 105) in July 1999. The MHLW also issued the Summary of
Preventive Measures against Dioxin Exposure for the Workers in Waste
Incineration Plants (MHLW Labour Standards Bureau Notification
No.401-2) in April, 2001. The Notification
categorizes the exposure levels to dioxin by 1 – 4 levels, and defines the
kinds of respirators and the other PPE to be used at each level. The
presentation will review the results of workplace environment contamination
measurements in incineration plants.