Heavy metals are naturally occurring elements and typically impose a minimal health concern. However, in industrial settings where heavy metals are often found in higher concentrations, the potential health hazards to workers following continuous and long-term exposure are significantly augmented.
In Canada, every province set their own occupational exposure limits to heavy metals, though the majority of the provinces follow the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Values (TLVs).
Currently, in Manitoba, Part 36 of the Chemical and Biological Substances Regulation of the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health provides information on chemicals or biological substances that could create a risk to the safety/ health of a worker in the workplace
The major sources of emissions and exposure of heavy metals include:
The toxicity of a metal depends on many factors including the dose, route of exposure, age, sex as well as the genetics and nutritional status of an individual.
Currently, there are no formal health surveillance protocols that exist to assess Manitoba workers exposed to heavy metals and, in order to preserve the health and wellbeing of Manitobans. Intrinsic Analytics offers to screen, evaluate, and monitor workers exposed to heavy metals and provide actionable feedback and data to employers.
Arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) are the heavy metals that are most documented to exhibit and exert harmful effects on human health. While there is also a significant amount of information regarding the harmful effects of human exposure to cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo) and nickel (Ni).
Indeed, these metals do not have any specific role in an organism and can be toxic even at low levels. For more information about the dangers of these heavy metals, please see our heavy metals info sheet.
Intrinsic Analytics works with a gold standard technology and is capable of testing for all of these toxins through either a blood or urine sample.
1. What are the harmful effects of the heavy metals found in workplaces?
Some of the dangers of the heavy metals are:
Arsenic (As) : Data from recent studies support an association between arsenic exposure and diabetes and that arsenic may exhibit neurotoxic properties. Arsenic is a potent cardiovascular toxicant, and is also a carcinogen, yet arsenic trioxide is used as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of acute promyelotic leukemia (APL). The therapeutic use of arsenic is limited due to its severe cardiovascular side effects.
Cadmium (Cd) : Cadmium is a widespread toxic pollutant of occupational and environmental concern because of its diverse toxic effects. Cadmium has a diversity of toxic effects including nephrotoxicity, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity and endocrine and reproductive toxicities. At the cellular level, cadmium affects cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and other cellular activities.
Lead (Pb) : This versatile heavy metal is non-degradable and its ability to accumulate in the body, undiagnosed, makes it a serious environmental health hazard. Lead is now known to affect almost every organ/tissue of the human body. Worker exposures occur in various industrial activities such as lead smelting and refining, battery manufacturing, steel welding or cutting operations, printing, and construction. Lead toxicity is a major public health issue in developed and developing countries. Both acute and chronic lead exposure has the potential to cause many deleterious systematic effects including hypertension, frank anemia, cognitive deficits, infertility, immune imbalances, delayed skeletal and deciduous dental development, vitamin D deficiency, and gastrointestinal effects.
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2. What are TLVs ?
The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) refers to their exposure guidelines as Threshold Limit Values (TLVs). The term refers to airborne concentrations of chemical substances and represents conditions under which it is believed that nearly all workers maybe repeatedly exposed day after day over a working lifetime without adverse health effects.
3. As an employer, am I still required to monitor the concentration of hazardous substances even after the workplace has control measures implemented?
Yes, you are required to monitor to concentration of the hazardous substances in the workplace even after having control measures implemented.
According to Part 36.8 of Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation 2022 when an employer implements control measures to control the concentration of an airborne chemical or biological substance, the employer must monitor the concentration of the substance in the workplace for a period sufficient to determine that the control measures have reduced the concentration of the substance below the occupational exposure limit for the substance.
Intrinsic Analytics is Manitoba’s premier bioinformation services company. We provide personalized and customizable bioinformation and biochemical analysis for individuals, commercial enterprises and government agencies. We offer two main platforms, occupational health and personal health. In addition, we engage in health research aimed at developing new health related assays.
Intrinsic Analytics is Manitoba's premier bioinformation services company. We provide personalized and customizable bioinformation and biochemical analysis for individuals, commercial enterprises and government agencies. We offer two main platforms, occupational health and personal health. In addition, we engage in health research aimed at developing new health related assays.
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