Risks Assessment due to the Exposure of Copper and Nitrogen Dioxide in the Goldsmith in Malimongan Makassar

Abstract

Manufacture of gold jewelry is one of the manufacturing processes involving several dangerous chemicals. These chemicals are used for melting, refining, welding, electroplating, and polishing the gold metal. This research aimed to determine the health risk as the resulted of the exposure to copper and nitrogen dioxide of the goldsmiths in Malimongan village Sub wajo, Makassar city. The research used observational design with the environmental health risk assessment approach. The 30 environmental samples and 30 human samples were chosen using the simple random sampling. The data were analyzed using the Environmental Health Risk Analysis and processed using Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS version 21. The research results of indoor concentrations copper from measurement point all represent bellow 1 mg/m 3 . The highest concentration is 0,07390 mg/m 3 and the lowest is 0,0015 mg/m 3 , the mean concentration of Copper is 0,0268 mg/m3. As for NO 2 measurement point also is concentrations below 3 ppm, the highest concentration is 0,020 ppm and the lowest is 0,010 ppm, the mean concentration of nitrogen dioxide is 0,0154 ppm. The non carcinogenic risk to copper of the goldsmiths showed that the average is 3,927. From the 30 people indicated 23 goldsmiths (76,7%) at risk had RQ≥1 and 7 goldsmiths (23,3%) had risk RQ≤ 1, the health risk NO 2 average is 0,05947. In conclusion, from all of respondent 30 people (100%) had RQ≤1. Goldsmiths has shown risks of exposure copper but not nitrogen dioxide.

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