Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Sep;22(3):384-8.
doi: 10.1080/10803548.2016.1153858. Epub 2016 Apr 14.

Occupational exposure to electric and magnetic fields during tasks at ground or floor level at 110 kV substations in Finland

Leena Korpinen  1 , Rauno Pääkkönen  2
Affiliations

Occupational exposure to electric and magnetic fields during tasks at ground or floor level at 110 kV substations in Finland

Leena Korpinen et al. Int J Occup Saf Ergon. 2016 Sep.

Abstract

The aim was to investigate occupational exposure to electric and magnetic fields during tasks at ground or floor level at 110 kV substations in Finland and to compare the measured values to Directive 2013/35/EU. Altogether, 347 electric field measurements and 100 magnetic field measurements were performed. The average value of all electric fields was 2.3 kV/m (maximum 6.4 kV/m) and that of magnetic fields was 5.8 µT (maximum 51.0 µT). It can be concluded that the electric and magnetic field exposure at ground or floor level is typically below the low action levels of Directive 2013/35/EU. The transposition of the directive will not create new needs to modify the work practice of the evaluated tasks, which can continue to be performed as before. However, for workers with medical implants, the exposure may be high enough to cause interference.

Keywords: electric fields; exposure; magnetic fields; substations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Example of electric field measurement at a 110 kV substation.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Example of magnetic field measurement at a 110 kV substation.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Histogram of measured electric field values at tasks A, B and C.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Histogram of measured magnetic field values at tasks B and C.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) ICNIRP statement – guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric and magnetic fields (1 Hz to 100 kHz) Health Phys. 2010;99(6):818–36. - PubMed
    1. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) IEEE standard for safety levels with respect to human exposure to electromagnetic fields, 0–3 kHz (IEEE Std C95.6-2002) New York(NY): IEEE; 2002.
    1. Directive 2013/35/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (electromagnetic fields) (20th individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) and repealing Directive 2004/40/EC. OJ. 2013;L179:1–21.
    1. Korpinen L, Kuisti H, Pääkkönen R, et al. Occupational exposure to electric and magnetic fields while working at switching and transforming stations of 110 kV. Ann Occup Hyg. 2011;55(5):526–36. doi: 10.1093/annhyg/mer013. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Korpinen L, Kuisti H, Tarao H, et al. Occupational exposure to electric fields and currents associated with 110 kV substation tasks. Bioelectromagnetics. 2012;33(5):438–42. doi: 10.1002/bem.21711. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources