TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE

PHILIPPINES
Lopez Extension Campus
College of Industrial Technology
Brgy. Villahermosa, Lopez, Quezon

Occupational Safety and Health

(Assignment#2)

Villaos, Benedict Menard P.

BET- CpET 3

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

Major in Computer Engineering Technology
 Industrial toxicology is the study of the harmful effects on humans by chemicals used in
the workplace, the products produced by companies, and the wastes created in manufacturing.

Industrial toxicology is a division of the broader science of toxicology that deals with the
adverse effects of all forms of chemicals, physical agents, and processes, including drugs and
medications. Originally, toxicology was known as the study of poisons, a focus that marked this
science since its earliest beginnings. Only in the middle of the twentieth century did this area of
scientific inquiry expand and become more specialized.

Humans have been interested in the harmful effects of substances since they first began
foraging for food. Identifying which plants were safe to eat and in what quantity and which ones
made humans sick or proved fatal became essential for the species to survive. Written records from
as early as 1500 bc in Egypt reveal how civilizations began to systematically categorize harmful
substances and use them for hunting, to dispose of enemies of the state, and to execute criminals.
Specific metals, hemlock, and opium were known and used for these purposes. Animal and insect
extracts and venom were smeared on arrowheads. One of the most famous early poisonings was
that of Socrates who was forced to drink hemlock. The Medici family in Italy during medieval
times raised poisoning to a fine art.

Forms of toxicity
Industrial chemicals that cause the most harm to the body are classified as irritants, asphyxiants,
and systemic poisons. Generally, each grouping corresponds to a common route of entry: the skin
and eyes, the lungs, and the digestive system. These sites are the places where absorption of the
chemical occurs.

IRRITANTS. Irritants are substances that cause inflammation, rashes, or corrosion of skin. They
can also cause pain, swelling, mucus secretion, and muscle constriction. These chemicals can also
irritate the lining of lungs and the digestive system, and are called irritants because the corrosive
effects occur on epithelial (skin) cells within these organs.

Irritants also include gases such as chlorine, ammonia, and formaldehyde. These chemicals can
cause coughing, fluid build up in the lungs, and pain.

Another group of irritants called particulate irritants are composed of minute bits of material
produced within the work environment. Pulmonary fibriosis, a common condition for those
exposed to these irritants in mining and manufacturing, results in scarring of the lungs, and often
disability and death. Coal miners are exposed to silica, which can result in pneumoconiosis,
silicosis (black lung disease), and asbestosis. These are serious and potentially fatal illnesses.
Alumina, zinc oxide, and silicate dust can irritate the lungs, but this inflammation is not as serious,
and workers can recover from exposure. Fine droplets of acids, organic solvents, and petroleum
products irritate both the lungs and the skin. Perfume components, cosmetics, creosote, and
antibiotics, such as tetracycline, can also make the skin extremely sensitive to ultraviolet
radiation in sunlight.
ASPHYXIANTS. Asphyxiants are aerosols or airborne chemicals that are inhaled through the
mouth and nose. These chemicals displace oxygen within the lungs, thus inhibiting the amount of
oxygen being transported throughout the body to nourish cells. Nitrogen and helium, used to flush
vats and tanks before routine maintenance, are examples of simple asphyxiants. They replace
oxygen in the atmosphere surrounding a worker.

Chemical asphyxiants create harm when inhaled because they create a chemical reaction in the
body. Carbon monoxide, for example, robs the body of oxygen by competitively binding to
hemoglobin in the blood and preventing oxygen being transported to tissues of the body. Hydrogen
sulfide, on the other hand, paralyzes the muscles in the lung and throat and prevents oxygen from
entering the body.

SYSTEMIC POISONS. Systemic poisons are chemicals that are ingested and absorbed by the
digestive tract. They are grouped according by their action or by a specific organ of the body that
they target. Narcotics and anesthetics reduce central nervous system function, and include organic
solvents that make effective anesthetics. One such solvent, diethyl ether, was taken out of the
industrial sector and used in surgical procedures because of its anesthetic uses. Other neurotoxic
agents may cause irreversible damage to the central or peripheral nervous system and include
alcohols, mercury, carbon disulfide, and organometallics, such as tin used in antifungal coatings.
Some chemicals, such as organic solvents and some metals, target the kidneys and liver. Since
these organs are the body's toxin filters, they have more contact with ingested poisons and suffer
greater damage. Another group of systemic poisons, include benzene, lead, and arsenic, which
affect the bone marrow and can produce too few red blood cells (anemia) or too many white blood
cells (leukocytosis). Certain agents, such as mercury, lead, and carbon disulfide, target
reproductive organs. They can alter male fertility or cause spontaneous abortion. Mercury has been
linked with birth defects.

One group of systemic poisons, called carcinogens, has been widely publicized. These industrial
chemicals have been shown to be linked with an increase rate of cancer among workers exposed
to them. Some of them include coke oven emissions, asbestos, benzene, and vinyl chloride.

Doe-response relationship

As Paracelus noted, there is a fine line between a beneficial amount of a substance and a harmful
amount. That distinction is determined by the doseresponse relationship or the amount of a
substance that a worker can be exposed to that is safe and the point at which the substance becomes
a threat. The dose-response relationship of a given chemical is characterized by five different
categories. The dose threshold is the minimum amount of the substance needed to produce an
effect. The lethal dose (LD) is the amount that will cause death. The toxic dose low (TDL), the
lowest dose that causes poisoning symptoms for nonairborne toxins, is found in safety manuals
and journal articles. The lethal concentration (LC) is the amount that is lethal. It often has a
subscript attached, such as LC50, meaning 50% of those exposed died from this specific amount.
Finally, the toxic concentration low (TCL) is the lowest published concentration that produces
toxicity for airborne substances.
Factors affecting toxicity

Several factors can determine the toxic dose of a specific substance. The rate of entry, how fast the
chemical is absorbed in the body, and the route of exposure, or how it enters the body, can increase
or decrease the toxicity of a substance. The length and frequency of exposure are also factors. A
worker's underlying health can exacerbate an exposure, especially if a target organ is already
diseased. Age and body size are also factors, with older and smaller bodies more at risk. In addition,
individual rates of absorption will determine how the chemical is taken up into body tissues, and
that will determine how toxic the dose is.

When a substance enters the body, it will be stored, transformed, or excreted. Storage can occur in
fat, bone, plasma, or the liver. Fat storage can slow down the effects of a chemical because its
release and circulation through the blood is decreased. Longer-term storage usually occurs in the
bones and the liver, eventually damaging them. Biotransformation can occur in the liver, thereby
changing the chemical composition of the substance. Sometimes, this renders the chemical less
harmful; sometimes it does not. The byproducts of biotransformation are usually excreted through
urine and feces, and sometimes through breast milk. The danger with elimination through the
digestive tract is the potential for reabsorption by the small intestine. This prolongs exposure,
especially if the substance has not been substantially biotransformed.

In industry, a worker is exposed to a substance, goes home, and allows the body to eliminate the
chemical. This natural process is efficient in most cases. In other situations, a remnant of the
substance remains in the body and, over time, toxic levels are built up. This makes it critical that
working overtime, and therefore experiencing additional exposure, is discouraged, and that
workers take appropriate time off.

Health effects

How different chemicals in the workplace affect the body varies according to the type and form of
the substance, the rate of exposure, and how the body reacts to the substance. Some chemical
exposure has a latency period in which no damage seems to occur immediately but will appear
later. Carcinogens, reproductive agents, inhaled irritants, and many systemic poisons will not show
harmful effects until many months or years after exposure.

Acute effects occur after brief exposure and appear immediately. Some types of exposure,
however, can produce delayed effects. Chronic effects happen after repeated or prolonged
exposure and can appear differently than acute exposure to the same chemical. Most carcinogens
produce chronic effects. Repeated exposure can result in cumulative toxicity. As a worker is
exposed to repeated doses of a substance, it can build up over time to toxic levels in the body,
causing damage or even death. In addition, exposure to two or more substances can result in a
more intense effect than exposure to each substance alone. This is called a synergistic response.

The exposure to some chemicals can be reversed after the body has had time to metabolize or
eliminate the substance. Other chemicals produce effects in the body that cannot be reversed.
Viewpoints

Investigation of toxic exposure in the workplace has led to more exact determinants of toxic dose
levels, which in turn have led to the creation of new safety procedures and workers' protection
laws. This research has also pushed to eliminate hazards in the workplace. New information and
new restrictions in industry have pitted governments against corporations and companies against
workers and the unions that represent them. This has resulted in individual and class action law
suits centered on specific chemicals in the workplace. Unlike other types of negligence cases, the
courts find it difficult to determine whether industrial chemicals caused the health effects specified
by a complaint or that the company knowingly placed workers in danger. In addition, unlike food
and medications, new industrial substances do not need to pass any sort of tests or inspections
before they are used.

Industry, however, does its own testing for the products it makes that will be used directly by
consumers. These include household products, personal care items, and cosmetics. Other
chemicals are tested only after exposure produces effects within a group of workers.

Testing for the harmful effects or toxicity of a substance is done with human subjects in a
controlled environment, by using animal studies, performing microorganism tests, or creating
computer models. Sometimes, dose-response data is collected at the site of accidental exposures,
such as a chemical spill.

These methods, however, have limitations. Scientific ethics prohibit the use of humans in
experiments with chemicals that might prove to be dangerous. Microorganism testing studies the
growth patterns of bacteria exposed to a potentially toxic chemical. These kinds of tests are limited
in that they do not factor in what the chemical's effect would have on a complex organism such as
a human being or an animal. Additionally, data from animals’ studies do not necessarily transfer
directly to humans. Some groups also object to the use of animals as test subjects because they are
killed when they are subjected to extraordinarily high doses of chemicals.

Professional implications

Industrial toxicology rose from the age of manufacturing. It has grown because of the scientific
creation of new substances and the increasing number of medical insurance claims by workers.
Branches of industrial toxicology include pesticide toxicology, agricultural toxicology, and
environmental toxicology. Though workers' safeguards are being put into place for some of the
known toxic agents, such as asbestos or coal dust, new chemicals are being created in research and
development labs every year. Of the 100,000 commercial chemicals in use in 2005, fewer than
1,000 have been studied. It is clear that the field of industrial toxicology will expand in order to
investigate new substances and how they affect humans in the workplace.

As a result, health care professionals will probably see more patients with diseases related to
chemical exposure. They will need to be aware of the systemic effects of various chemicals,
especially heavy metals, and will need to know how to treat these effects or help the patient excrete
these substances from the body. Of additional concern is the potential for exposure of health
professionals in clinics located in industrial settings.