Construction Workers May Unknowingly Bring Home Toxic Metals
Date Posted: March 10, 2022
Posted In: Discussion, Workforce,
From ConstructionDive: Beyond the well-known danger of lead, construction workers may unintentionally pick up other harmful, toxic metals at work and inadvertently bring them home.
The Harvard Take Home Study evaluated samples collected in 30 homes of workers living with a child in the greater Boston area to identify potential home exposure. Construction workers’ homes had higher levels of arsenic, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, nickel and tin when compared to janitorial and auto workers in the study.
Lead poisoning in children that results from dust unknowingly brought home by a worker is commonly called “take home exposure.” But workers can bring other metals home, and there are no clear guidelines to gauge the safety levels of those metals even though they can cause health problems.
Dive Insight:
Exposure to some of these metals, such as arsenic, occur near or in hazardous waste sites or areas with naturally high levels in soil, rocks and water, according to OSHA. Others, like chromium, are used explicitly in construction, and OSHA warns workers in welding, painting, cement and more can face occupational exposure.
High exposure to arsenic can cause death, while lower exposure for longer periods of time can cause discoloration of the skin and corns or warts. Metals like chromium are carcinogens, with long-lasting health term effects potentially rising from extended exposure.
Diana Ceballos, assistant professor at the Boston University School of Public Health and one of the study’s authors, said experts had learned much about how cases happen before this study, but not enough about stopping them.