Chemical risk evaluation : a case study in an automotive air conditioner production facility.

There has been limited knowledge on worker's exposure to chemicals used in the automotive industries. The purpose of this study is to assess chemical risk and to determine the adequacy of the existing control measures to reduce chemical exposure. A cross sectional survey was conducted in a factory involving installation and servicing of automotive air conditioner units. Qualitative exposure assessment was carried out following the Malaysian Chemical Health Risk Assessment Manual (CHRA). There were 180 employees, 156 workers worked in the production line, which constitutes six work units Tube fin pressed, Brazing, Welding, Final assembly, Piping and Kit II. From the chemical risk evaluation for each work unit, 26 chemical compounds were used. Most of the chemicals were irritants (eye and skin) and some were asphyxiants and sensitizers. Based on the work assignment, 93 out of 180 (51.67%) of the workers were exposed to chemicals. The highest numbers of workers exposed to chemicals were from the Brazing section (22.22%) while the Final Assembly section was the lowest (1.67%). Health survey among the workers showed occurrence of eye irritation, skin irritation, and respiratory irritation, symptoms usually associated with chemical exposure. Using a risk rating matrix, several work process were identified as having 'significant risk'. For these areas, the workers are at risk of adverse health effects since chemical exposure is not adequately controlled. This study recommends corrective actions be taken in order to control the level of exposure and to provide a safe work environment for workers

Local community acceptance of the rare earth industry: the case of the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Malaysia

This paper provides a detailed analysis of the local community response to a newly installed rare earth (RE) refinery facility and the factors underlying its acceptance. House-to-house interviews, using structured questionnaire, were conducted in 2013 (N = 370). Results show that the community was divided into deciding whether they agreed with the presence of the facility, 41.36 % (for) and 41.62 % (against). The remaining fraction of the community was undecided, which made up 17.03 % of the total respondents. This paper identifies six significant predictors of risk acceptance: gender, education status, place of residence, Factor 1 (variables—perception of safety, concern on effects, and trust in the operators), Factor 2 (variables—social and individual benefits), and Factor 3 (variables—no confidence in government). This study gives insights on how the public respond to potential hazardous facilities and highlights the need for policy makers to consider public sentiment which can interfere with further expansion of the RE industry

Hair mercury levels in relation to marine fish consumption among adults in Malaysia.

Consumption of carnivorous fish is one of the major sources of human exposure to methyl mercury (MeHg). This study presents the data on fish consumption habits and hair mercury levels taken from 201 adults aged between 17- 72 years from four districts in the Peninsular Malaysia. The means for total mercury (THg) ranged from 0.93 ppm-1.69 ppm. The means for females and males were 1.21 ppm (SD=0.76) and 1.48 ppm (SD=0.89) respectively. The THg level for 59.30% of the study population (26.60% female participants) exceeded the USEPA recommendation of 1 ppm. The average fish consumption was 180.19+11.34g/ day/person with higher fish consumption in both rural coastal areas compared with the urban communities (p=0.0001). Age was positively correlated with THg (rs=0.4588; p=0.0001) followed by the amount of fish eaten (rs=0.4199; p=0.0001), use of whitening cream (rs=0.2410; p=0.006), BMI (rs=0.2034; p=0.0041), location of study (rs=0.1818; p=0.01), and gender (0.1637; p=0.0241). However, we found negative correlation between the numbers of filling with THg (rs=-0.2485; p=0.004)

Organophosphate exposure: a preliminary assessment on the use of pesticide intensity score to evaluate exposure among fruit growers

This study examines the influence of work hours, personal protective equipment use, and pesticide ingestion on the amount of urinary metabolites among fruit growers applying organophosphate pesticide. Thirty nine urine samples were collected from seven applicators before and after organophosphate applications. All dimethyl metabolites were present in day 1 morning urine samples for all workers. The arithmetic means for day 1 ranged from 21.5-94.17 µg/L DMP, 6.25-81.25 µg/L DMTP, and <LOQ-153.17 µg/L DMDTP. Day 2 urine samples had the highest amount of metabolites. The arithmetic means ranged from 25.8-558 µg/L DMP, 15.75-398 µg/L DMTP, 21.5-568.57 µg/L DMDTP, and <LOQ-17.67 µg/L DEP. The arithmetic means for day 4 ranges from 19.2-182 µg/L DMP, 13.33-138 µg/L DMTP, 22.75-157.83 µg/L DMDTP, and <LOQ-26 µg/L DEP. From the questionnaire, the exposure algorithm based on duration of hours worked, PPE use and pesticide ingestion showed poor relationship with urine concentration (r=0.1847). The linear relationship is not established due to variability within and between applicators

Trends in sediment yield of the Kemaman River Estuary, Terengganu- Disember 2002-February 2004

The Kemaman River drains the southern half of Kemaman Chendor coastal system and is the primary source of sediment to Kemaman estuary. In this paper, it is demonstrated that anthropogenic activity within a watershed, such as agriculture and urbanization were affect the sediment yield from the watershed. Over 26 month, the delivery of suspended sediment from the Kemaman River to The Kemaman Estuary has increase by about 25 percent. Using flow and suspended sediment discharge data provided by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) revealed possible increasing trend on suspended sediment discharge and concentration. Temporal analysis indicates that the trend of sediment yield was increase during the monsoon season resulting over sediment supply closed to river mouth. This scenario has implication for nearshore fisherman's navigation due to seabed deposition. In a broader context, this study underscores the need to address the anthropogenic impacts and flood monsoon on sediment yield in the Kemaman-Chendor estuary system

Using chemometrics in assessing langat river water quality and designing a cost-effective water sampling strategy.

Seasonally dependent water quality data of Langat River was investigated during the period of December 2001 – May 2002, when twenty-four monthly samples were collected from four different plots containing up to 17 stations. For each sample, sixteen physico-chemical parameters were measured in situ. Multivariate treatments using cluster analysis, principal component analysis and factorial design were employed, in which the data were characterised as a function of season and sampling site, thus enabling significant discriminating factors to be discovered. Cluster analysis study based on data which were characterised as a function of sampling sites showed that at a chord distance of 75.25 two clusters are formed. Cluster I consists of 6 samples while Cluster II consists of 18 samples. The sampling plots from which these samples were taken are readily identified and the two clusters are discussed in terms of data variability. In addition, varimax rotations of principal components, which result in varimax factors, were used in interpreting the sources of pollution within the area. The work demonstrates the importance of historical data, if they are available, in planning sampling strategies to achieve desired research objectives, as well as to highlight the possibility of determining the optimum number of sampling stations which in turn would reduce cost and time of sampling

Pheophorbide b ethyl ester from a chlorella vulgaris dietary supplement

In the title compound, C37H38N4O6, four five-membered nitro­gen-bearing rings are nearly coplanar. Two N atoms in two these five-membered rings have attached H atoms, which contribute to the formation of intra­molecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds [N⋯N = 2.713 (5)–3.033 (6) Å]

Mercury exposure in coastal communities of Kedah and Kelantan, Malaysia.

A cross-sectional study of mercury concentration in hair was conducted in two rural coastal communities of Yan (state of Kedah) and Bachok (state of Kelantan) from March to May 2006. For the comparative groups, the urban communities of Alor Setar (Kedah) and Kota Bharu (Kelantan) were chosen. This study was carried out in collaboration with the National Institute for Minamata Disease (NIMD), Minamata, Japan. A total of 201 hair samples were collected from the residents. Samples were analyzed by the NIMD, using the oxygen combustion-gold combustion method. The geometric means for total mercury in each district were 1.38 ppm (Yan), 1.20 ppm (Alor Setar), 1.24 ppm (Bachok) and 1.07 ppm (Kota Bharu). Two persons, each from Alor Setar and Kota Bharu, had high total mercury (washed sample 223.58 ppm and 803.16 ppm respectively). However, further analysis for methyl mercury showed that the levels were within 1.36 ppm and 1.91 ppm, respectively. Of the ten exposure parameters tested, only age (p < 0.001) and fish consumption (p < 0.01) appeared to have significant effect on hair mercury levels. Concerns about mercury were related to a severe outbreak of neurological disease in Minamata, Japan. In 1950s, a huge amount of methyl mercury (MeHg) formed in the chemical factory had been discharged to the Minamata Bay. Although inorganic mercury (I-Hg) was also discharged, contribution of biomethylation is considered too small for the Minamata disease. Bioaccumulation of MeHg into the aquatic food chain resulted in the neurological syndrome in adults who has eaten contaminated fish and prenatal exposures to MeHg from maternal consumption of fish which resulted in mental retardation, seizures and cerebral palsy (ATSDR, 1999; and Harada et al., 1999)

Hydrological trend analysis due to land use changes at Langat River Basin.

This present study was carried out to detect the spatial and temporal change (1974-2000) in hydrological trend and its relationship to land use changes in the Langat River Basin. To obtain a clear picture of the hydrological parameters during the study period, rainfall data were analyzed. With the help of GIS and non-parametric Mann-Kendall (MK) statistical test the significance of trend in hydrological and land use time series was measured. Trend analyses indicated that a relationship between hydrological parameters namely discharge and direct runoff and land use types namely agriculture, forest, urban, waterbody and others was evident. This analysis indicates that rainfall intensity does not play an important role as a pollutant contributor via the rainfall runoff process nor does it directly influence the peak discharges. Land use shows tremendous changes in trend surrounding Dengkil station compared a little changes surrounding Lui station. Mann-Kendall test of trend shows an increasing trend (p-value<0.01) of annual maximum-minimum ratio for Dengkil station, while no significant trend is observed for Lui station. There is evidence that regional variability in discharge behaviour is strongly related to land use or land cover changes along the river basin