英文摘要 |
To identify the factory distribution and number of workers engaged in production chloroprene rubber adhesive, this study screened membership data of the Taiwan Synthetic Resin & Adhesives Industrial Association and confirmed through telephone interviews whether the factories produced. Approximately 1,082 employees are engaged in work related to chloroprene rubber adhesive production. However, most do not produce chloroprene rubber. The range of employees engaged in the manufacturing is approximately 3-20 at each factory. Most factory employees are engaged in raw material preparation, feeding, and packaging tasks, or produce other non-chloroprene rubber adhesives (e.g., polyurethane adhesives and shoe adhesives). The three chloroprene rubber adhesive production factories surveyed by this study applied the following manufacturing procedure: rolling [chloroprene rubber bulk rubber] → mixing [raw materials and solvents for chloroprene rubber sheets] → producing end-products → filling containers → shipping. Although the raw material used by each factory varied, zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, petroleum resin or phenolic resin, toluene, hexane, methylene chloride, and acetone were common. Of these, typical exposure risks for manufacturing workers were as follows: (a) zinc oxide and magnesium oxide dust; (b) organic solvent in stir tanks; and (c) end-product organic solvents. The tested organic solvent concentrations in the operating environments at all three factories were below each permissible exposure limit (PEL-TWA), reflecting the positive influence of long-term labor inspections on management and factory production. |