Neutron activation analysis at the service of the worker's health: determination of arsenic

Exposures in the workplace are generally registered when there are easily identified diseases. The major problem is that most workers are exposed to low levels of toxic chemicals that can be lethal after a long period of time, due to chronic diseases. Aiming at giving support to the Worker's Health Awareness Program of the Municipal Department of Health of Belo Horizonte, an assessment was carried out in three galvanising factories by means of airborne particulate matter collected in air filters and hair and toenail samples as biomonitors. The arsenic was determined in all matrixes from factories where gold electrodeposition process was applied. This is because arsenic salts are usually added to gold bath to improve the metal covering. The high concentration results surprised the health surveillance professionals, and alerted for the need of assessing the influence of a long-term exposure. Studies concerning galvanising process have usually been developed broaching many aspects, but so far none has pointed out the detection and measurement of other elements like arsenic. The results will support the establishment of guidelines and data basis for the next occupational program for this specific workplace. The k0-Instrumental Neutron Activation method was applied confirming to be a suitable technique on determination of arsenic in diversified matrixes. (author)