From the shooting gallery to the office – lead as an occupational risk factor

Lead (Pb) is known as a powerful toxicant for many centuries. Due to ongoing discussions on Pb toxicity at the EU level, our scientific interest focused on analysis of Pb circulation in an office building with shooting gallery and occupational exposure to Pb of workers in the shooting gallery and regular office rooms with no direct contact to ammunition. In order to investigate the level of Pb contamination within the same building, air quality measurements were carried out at 16 points (48 samples) with different work tasks, including shooting gallery, storage room of weapons and office rooms. Pb concentration was measured by atomic absorption spectrometry. The obtained results were compared with the national occupational exposure limit value, which is 50 µg/m3 for Pb. During the shooting process Pb concentration in the breathing zone of the shooter was between 18 and 24 µg/m3. Extraordinary high levels of Pb were observed in the shooting gallery near the shooting target (concentration fluctuated between 2700 and 5400 µg/m3 depending on the distance to the target). In the storage and maintenance facilities of weapons and ordnance the measured concentration was between 1.6 and 2.3 µg/m3, in the office rooms - 0.7 and 1.8 µg/m3, with exception for the office of shooting experts where it was 7.9 µg/m3. The results show Pb transmission from shooting gallery to the other premises in the same building resulting in long-term daily exposure of office workers to low levels of Pb. This transmission might be explained by lack of proper hygienic habits of shooters (washing hands, use personal protective equipment etc.), but it should be further investigated. There is a need for further research also on Pb biomonitoring of all workers not only those directly involved in the shooting activities and their family members.