Occupational Hazards in Printing Industry
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Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. (2016) 13:955–972 DOI 10.1007/s13762-016-0937-z ORIGINAL PAPER Occupational hazards in printing industry 1 1 2 1 1 J. S. Kiurski • B. B. Maric´ • S. M. Aksentijevic´ • I. B. Oros • V. S. Kecic´ Received: 27 July 2015 / Revised: 9 December 2015 / Accepted: 11 January 2016 / Published online: 25 January 2016 Ó Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2016 Abstract This paper, through certain printing techniques, Introduction examines the types of occupational pollutants and the adverse impacts of the printing process. Also, it proposes In the late eighties, human society evolved from basic the measures for better preservation and environmental concepts of social reproduction to the concept of sustain- protection. The paper analyzes the results of the quantita- able development, which generally implies changes in the tive identification of hazardous materials from various structure, functions and activities of the system. Sustain- printing techniques: pad, screen, offset, flexographic, and able development is often related to the environment and digital. The study included the analysis of waste printing involves changes in society concerning the available inks and purification of printing wastewater with adsorp- resources, endangering natural systems and providing the tion methods. Besides that, the preliminary monitoring of long-term survival of the same. It is possible to investigate, ambient indoor air quality was performed. The multiple analyze and draw conclusions to ensure sustainable regression analysis was applied on the obtained experi- development, as well as to optimize its components (Wallis mental results, in order to determine the mutual correlation et al. 2011; Bilen et al. 2008; Bao and Fang 2013; Yigit- between the ozone and the total volatile organic com- canlar and Kamruzzaman 2014; Yigitcanlar and Teriman pounds and microclimate parameters. It was observed that 2015). a quantitative correlation exists between the investigated It is an undisputed fact that the environment is polluted occupational hazards, which also indicate the strength of every day with a large number of systems and, their the agreement. The obtained results could be useful to components, and by individuals. The biggest polluters are evaluate the tendency of hazardous air pollutants in print- the various parts of industry, in which an important role ing industries worldwide. belongs to the printing industry (Mollah et al. 2000; Huang and Shih 2008). The printing industry may directly pollute Keywords Printing process Á Hazardous material Á the soil and natural water through wastewater systems, Sustainable development Á Indoor pollutant Á Statistical threatening the existence of plant and animal life. Addi- analysis tionally, indirectly, through meteorological conditions and acid rain, it may endanger the living environment. (Kiurski et al. 2012b). Beside that, our recent studies showed that microclimate parameters, temperature, relative humidity and light intensity, have influence on emission of various organic hazards in printing indoor environments that & J. S. Kiurski potentially affect the worker’s health (Kiurski et al. 2013a, [email protected] b). Namely, it is known that light intensity leads to the 1 Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, increase in the overall temperature in printing indoor Trg Dositeja Obradovic´a 6, Novi Sad 21000, Serbia environments. It occurs as a result of productivity 2 Business Technical College, Trg Svetog Save 34, increasing due to increased speed of production lines, Uzˇice 31000, Serbia which causes an increase in heat and dissipation of energy 123 956 Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. (2016) 13:955–972 from the UV lamps and the appearance of large amounts of conventional approach to pollution prevention and control, ozone in indoor environment. Ozone is very reactive gas, although they result from similar domestic, commercial and it reacts with other pollutants in the indoor air by and industrial activities, as conventional contaminants creating a new compound. These facts have contributed to (Deblonde et al. 2011; Gavrilescu et al. 2015). repeat the measurement of microclimate parameters such Thus, waste includes all materials that are created during significant impacts to the pollutant emission into the production processes that have no intended use. Waste can printing indoor environment. be classified as municipal waste, industrial waste, haz- Because of these facts, it is interesting and useful to ardous waste, mining waste, biodegradable municipal investigate and monitor the processes within the printing waste and agricultural waste. The main purpose of waste industry, as well as the parameters of pollutants, to provide management technologies and policies is to protect human better management of environmental protection and sus- and environmental health by reducing the negative impacts tainable development. The objective of this study was to of waste and finding beneficial uses for it. Waste man- examine the presence of certain pollutants through various agement technologies can reduce the harmful impacts of printing techniques in the printing facilities on the territory waste, particularly those relating to energy consumption of Novi Sad, Serbia, during the period December 2011– and climate change. Performance indicators are often used May 2012 and, to note their negative impact on the indoor to assess the quality of waste on the environment, as well environment, as well as the mutual correlation between the as a comparison of the ranking assessment of the impact on target pollutants and the microclimate parameters. This the environment (Misra and Pandey 2005; Musee et al. study was performed in the printing industry in Novi Sad, 2008; Zaman 2013; Al-Salem et al. 2014; Greene and covering a variety of printing techniques: pad, screen, web- Tonjes 2014; Yigitcanlar and Kamruzzaman 2014; Yigit- fed offset, flexography and digital printing. The results are canlar and Teriman 2015). represented in terms of the quantity of the pollutants, and the correlation of the examined phenomena through sta- Printing industry as a polluter tistical analysis. Small printing facilities present diffuse and permanent pol- Environmental pollutants and waste luters. Each printing technique (pad, screen, offset, flexog- raphy, digital) is unique in own way, with certain The environment includes a large number of processes and characteristics of waste flows. As a daily companion to components: the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and human activity, the printing industry generates wastes clas- biosphere, as well as their interactions. Population growth, sified roughly as solid, liquid and gaseous wastes. Solid urban development, the increase in economic activity and waste contains canisters, used film packages, damaged the application of chemicals in industry lead to excessive plates, developed film, outdated materials, test production, release of pollutants into the environment and the resulting bad printing (or spoilage) and paper waste. Liquid waste threats (Kiurski 2010). Evaluating the ecological effects of includes a variety of inks, solvents, acids, resins, lacquers, environmental contamination goes beyond observing the dyes, driers, extenders, modifiers, varnishes, and other co-occurrence of contaminants and adverse effects to solutions. Waste printing inks are the highest sources of documenting the cause and effect relationships. For most organic and inorganic water pollution (Kiurski et al. 2012c). contaminants and metals, there is currently little informa- Printing wastewater contains different types of haz- tion regarding their potential toxicological significance in ardous and harmful substances depending on the raw ecosystems, particularly the effects of long-term, low-level materials used during the printing production. Zinc ions are environmental exposures to emerging pollutants (Hoenicke harmful to humans and other biological systems, and they et al. 2007; Aina et al. 2009; Vojinovic-Miloradov and are particularly common in printing wastewater (Kiurski Kiurski 2010; Panwar et al. 2011; Wang et al. 2013; et al. 2009; Noonpui et al. 2010). The most common form Dursun et al. 2015). of waste gas emissions are various gases and volatile Although great advances have been made in the detec- organic compounds (VOC) arising from process chemicals tion and analysis of trace pollutants, during recent decades, and cleaning solutions (Guo et al. 2004; Caselli et al. 2009; a wide array of undetected contaminants of emerging Andrade et al. 2012). environmental concern still need to be identified and quantified in various environmental components (Nwa- Pad printing chukwu et al. 2010). Pollutants may be migrated and per- sistent in air, water, soil, sediments and ecological Pad printing is an indirect offset (or gravure) printing receptors, even at low concentrations. Because of their process in which an image is transferred over the silicone particular characteristics, pollutants require changes in the pad to the surface to be printed (E3 Systems Ltd. 2015). 123 Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. (2016) 13:955–972 957 The most common emissions produced by the pad print- Offset printing ing process are gases and VOCs from process chemicals and cleaning solutions. Cleaning products, such as washes for Offset printing is the most widespread printing process, silicone pads, ink containers and presses, have traditionally which relies on the fact that water and oil do not mix and been petroleum-based