The National Agency for Food and Environmental Health Safety (ANSES) warns metro employees about the risks to their health from fine particles in the air. “The quality of the air in underground railway enclosures has been a subject of concern for several years. Given the pollution revealed in these enclosures and the length of time workers are frequented by their professional activity, questions are raised about the long-term health risks linked to the air pollutants present in these enclosures and incurred by these professionals “, states ANSES in a just published study.
In underground railway enclosures, air pollution is dominated by the problem of suspended particles. Their concentration is often expressed in PM10 and PM2.5: these are particles that enter the respiratory system, capable, for the finest (PM2.5) of being deposited in the pulmonary alveoli.
However, as ANSES states, the concentrations of fine particles measured in underground railway enclosures “are much higher than those measured in outdoor air and in the indoor air of dwellings. The major source of these particles, rich in metals, mainly iron, and carbon, is the wear of materials by the wheel-brake friction of passenger trains, followed by wheel-rail contact and contact between rolling stock and the power supply system “.
At this time, health authorities cannot declare what the long-term risks are. But “by analogy with the well-documented health risks of particles in the outside ambient air, deleterious effects are expected on cardiovascular and respiratory health “. ANSES therefore recommends” the implementation and continuation of exposure prevention and reduction measures for all of these categories of workers and in particular for those in charge of maintenance of infrastructure “.
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