EXPOSIÇÃO AO SULFÊTO DE CARBONO E SULFÊTO DE HIDROGÊNIO NA FABRICAÇÃO DO RAIOM PELO PROCESSO DA VISCOSE, NO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

Abstract

A study has been made of the exposure of workers to carhon disulfide and hydrogen sulfide in four plants located in the state of São Paulo. Brasil, where viscose rayon thread and related products (staple fiher and cellophane) are manufactured, employing altogether 5,485 persons. There were ma de 634 chemical determinations (390 of carbon disulfide and 244 of hydrogen sulfide) of a ir samples collected at typical sites, and a simultaneous survey of the tasks of the personnel involved was carried out. The results show that, in the whole group and in what concerns the exposure to either one or the other, or both the carhon and hydrogen sulfides, 4,360 persons (79% of the total) are potentially exposed and 1,580 ( 29% of lhe total and 36% of those potentially exposed) are actually exposed to concentrations of these agents above twenty parts per million. An attempt at an approximate classification of thc dcgree of exposure, based on thc weighting of thc concentrations hy the duration of exposure, indicates that, in the latter group, the exposurc may he considcred light in 68% of the cases, modera te in 16.9, pronounccd in 14.1 and high in 0.9.