Looking to see if metal dust and fumes result in lower birth weights
Cathy Calahoo was trying to get pregnant and was working as an electrician in the Alberta oil industry when she decided to read the popular pregnancy book What to Expect When You’re Expecting.
After reading pregnant women should stay away from kitty litter and bleach, she started to wonder if the oil sands was the right place for her at this time in her life, she said.
It wasn’t that Calahoo thought being an electrician was unsafe if she was pregnant, but she didn’t think working out in the oil sands would be ideal conditions for a healthy baby to grow, she said.
“In general there are always risks associated with this kind of work,” she said.
Calahoo, now six months pregnant, is enrolled in a new study exploring the affects of working in metalworking and electrical trades on the health of women in Alberta.
“I am a woman in the trades, so it is quite beneficial to me,” she said of why she decided to join the study.
The study, being conducted by researchers at the University of Alberta in collaboration with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, is called Women’s Health in Alberta Trades — Metalworkers and Electricians (WHAT-ME).
The study is looking at whether work in certain trades, in particular those that expose women to metal fumes and dusts, can affect the outcome of a pregnancy. The study is following women working in metal-related trades, including pipefitters, boilermakers, electricians and welders.
The study is one people have been thinking about doing for years, but there were concerns the number of women who might be able to participate wouldn’t be large enough to make the results scientifically valid, said Jeremy Beach, a researcher with the study.
Now that women are entering non-traditional trades in higher numbers in Alberta, the size of the group of potential participants was big enough, said Beach.
A recent study out of Finland concluded metal fumes or dust and welding fumes in pregnancy resulted in a lower birth weight, but the study was only based on data from very few subjects. The abstract from the study acknowledged the need for further research because of the small study size and the lack of data for exposure concentrations.
Women involved in the study complete a short baseline questionnaire about their health, reproductive history and work in the trades. Follow-up questionnaires are completed every six months after enrolment.
The study asks participants to contact researchers early in a pregnancy so a urine sample can be collected and analyzed for metal exposure. Study administrators then follow-up with future health and the progress of a pregnancy through Alberta Health and Wellness administrative data and the Alberta Perinatal Health Register.
In addition to looking at pregnancy outcomes the study could also delve into other issues specific to female health, said Beach.
For example, women are more prone to nickel sensitivities, he said.
In the three months since initiating contact with potential participants, through a letter from the researchers sent out through Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry training to females fitting the criteria, there are already more than 200 women signed up.
“Alberta Apprenticeship estimates 1,800 women in the relevant trades and we’d obviously like all of those,” said Beach, adding a reminder letter has recently been sent out.
In general, women’s health in non-traditional workplaces is an area that is under-researched, said Karen Messing, an adjunct professor at L’Université du Québec à Montréal and co-chair of the Gender and Work Committee with the International Erganomics Association.
There are areas where there is data showing women have a higher rate of accidents in the same job as men. Some are reluctant to talk about data like this because they don’t want it to be misconstrued as women not being able to do their jobs, she said.
In one workplace the way women were trained to carry a ladder was completely inappropriate for their build and was resulting in injury, said Messing.
Training and equipment needs to be tailored specifically to a woman, she said.
“Women are not just little men,” she said. “We have a different shape.”
