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A study was conducted on the exposure of lumber mill saw filers to cobalt and chromium. Personal air samples collected from saw filing workers who used steel, tungsten, and/or stellite saw tips were analyzed. The variables influencing cobalt exposure were wet and dry carbide grinding. Chromium concentrations were associated with wet grinding of knives made of chromium containing steel as well as with welding of stellite and saw steel. Increases in cobalt and chromium concentrations in grinding machine coolants were seen following machine operation particularly for cobalt in coolants from tungsten carbide grinding machines and chromium in stellite grinding machines. The authors conclude that airborne exposures to chromium and cobalt are not accurately predicted by the amount of metal in the parent material and that standard exposure control methods such as wet grinding may be insufficient to adequately reduce exposures.
American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, 56(7):661-669, 1995. (32 references)
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