Investigation on dust hazards of enterprises in Guangzhou City

Objective To understand the characteristics of dust hazards of selected enterprises, and to provide the orientation for work on occupational health management in the future. Methods The working environment monitoring data from 67 companies from 2012 to 2013, involving in machinery manufacturing, metal processing, pharmaceutical, electric power, chemical, food and beverage,etc, in Guangzhou were evaluated. Results Nineteen types of industrial dusts were found and the major types were welding fume-dust, organic dust, metallic dust, coal dust, grinding wheel dust, silicious dust, aluminum-alloy dust, and other dusts. We found 16.4 percent of the enterprises and 2.95 percent of the points exceeding the standards, and the non-compliance varied from 1.35% to 7.14% according to the mentioned classification of dust types, while the non-compliance of organic dust was the highest as 7.14%, which were often reported in the enterprises related to the food and beverage, pharmaceutical and machinery manufacturing. Conclusion Though the high-risk dusts, such as silicious dust, coal dust and welding fume-dust, were not obvious, more attention should be given to the low-risk dusts, such as organic and metal dusts.