Occupational exposure to magnetic fields from transformer stations and electric enclosures in Turkey


Cam S. T., Firlarer A., Ozden S., CANSEVEN KURŞUN A. G., Seyhan N.

ELECTROMAGNETIC BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE, cilt.30, sa.2, ss.74-79, 2011 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 30 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2011
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3109/15368378.2011.566772
  • Dergi Adı: ELECTROMAGNETIC BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.74-79
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

We aimed to provide a systematic evaluation of magnetic field (MF) exposure of staff working in the offices located above or close to transformer stations (TS) and electric enclosures (EE). Occupational short-term ""spot"" measurements with Narda EFA-300 and isotropic magnetic field probe were carried out in two National Banks and one Industrial Company having more than 500 employees. Extremely low-frequency (ELF) MFs up to several tens of mu mu T were measured in the mentioned working environments. 25% of the measured MFs were found less than 0.3 mu mu T, the background exposure level that staff receive at home, 75% were above 0.3 mu mu T with the highest value of 6.8 mu mu T. The mean and median personal exposures were calculated to be 1.19 mu mu T and 0.56 mu mu T, respectively. Most of the staff (83%) is under risk based on epidemiological studies that reported a statistically significant association between risk of leukemia and averaged magnetic fields of 0.2 mu mu T or over. Results showed that risk evaluation should be considered to minimize the possibility of the workers being harmed due to exposure to work-related electromagnetic sources.