Exposure to lead is the primary health concern in battery manufacturing, and consequently, the focus of this topic page. Any operation in which battery plates, lead scrap, or oxide is handled may be a significant source of lead exposure. Airborne dispersion of lead dust (which settles on equipment, floors and other surfaces) via cross-drafts, pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and dry sweeping, may be an additional source of lead exposure. If the dross that forms on top of lead pots is handled carelessly, lead exposure can result. Lead particles can also become airborne via attachment to acid or water mists. Lead fumes from lead pots, torching, burning, or other operations where a flame contacts lead, or lead is heated above the melting point, may also be sources of lead exposure. Battery manufacturing plants under federal jurisdiction are required to comply with Federal OSHA occupational safety and health standards for general industry (29 CFR 1910). Hazards: Inorganic lead dust is the most significant health exposure in battery manufacture. Lead can be absorbed into the body by inhalation and ingestion. Inhalation of airborne lead is generally the most important source of occupational lead absorption. Once in the blood stream, lead is circulated throughout the body and stored in various organs and body tissues (e.g., kidney liver, brain, bone marrow, bones and teeth). Absorption via the gastrointestinal track following ingestion is highly dependent upon the presence of levels of calcium, iron, fats, and proteins. The effects of lead are the same whether it enters the body through breathing or swallowing. The main target for lead toxicity is the nervous system. Lead exposure may also cause anemia, a low number of red blood cells, which is characterized by weakness, pallor, and fatigue due to a lack of oxygen in the blood. In pregnant women, high levels of exposure to lead may cause miscarriages. High-level exposure in men can damage the organs responsible for sperm production. The following are additional sources of information about the health effects of lead exposure. Short term (acute) overexposure: Lead adversely affects numerous body systems, and causes forms of health impairment and disease which arise after periods of exposure as short as days or as long as several years. Lead is a potent, systemic poison, which when taken in large doses, can kill a person in a matter of days. A condition affecting the brain called acute encephalopathy may arise which develops quickly to seizures, coma, and eventually death from cardiorespiratory arrest. Short term occupational exposures of this magnitude are highly unusual, but not impossible. Similar forms of encephalopathy may also arise from extended, chronic exposure to low doses of lead. There is no sharp dividing line between rapidly developing acute effects of lead, and chronic effects which take longer to acquire. Long term (chronic) overexposure: Chronic overexposure to lead may result in severe damage to the blood?forming, nervous, urinary, and reproductive systems. Some common symptoms of chronic overexposure include loss of appetite, metallic taste in the mouth, anxiety, constipation, nausea, pallor, excessive tiredness, weakness, insomnia, headache, nervous irritability, muscle and joint pain or soreness, fine tremors, numbness, dizziness, hyperactivity and colic. In lead colic there may be severe abdominal pain. Central Nervous System: Damage to the central nervous system and the brain (encephalopathy) is one of the more severe manifestations of lead poisoning. The most severe, often fatal, form of encephalopathy may be preceded by vomiting, feeling of dullness progressing to drowsiness and stupor, poor memory, restlessness, irritability, tremor, and convulsions. It may arise suddenly with the onset of seizures, followed by coma, and death. Some may experience muscular weakness as well. This weakness may progress to paralysis which is often observed as a characteristic "wrist drop" or "foot drop". It is a manifestation of a disease effecting the nervous system, called peripheral neuropathy. Urinary System: Chronic overexposure to lead also results in kidney disease with few, if any symptoms appearing until extensive and most likely permanent kidney damage has occurred A progression to kidney dialysis or death is possible. See more from topic source: https://www.osha.gov/html/a-z-index.html