Evaluation of the Environmental and Health Risk Assessments and Pollution Indices for Heavy Elements of Dust Samples in the Samarra General hospitals in Salah al-Din Governorate/Iraq

Abstract

Five samples of dust deposited are collected from indoors and outdoors the hospital under research to ovulate health and environmental risks. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis was carried out using the PEDXRF device. The results showed the concentrations of twenty heavy elements, varying effects on human health. A number of pollution indices are used to assess the contamination status in the hospital, namely the Enrichment factor (EF). This factor has shown that the heavy elements (As, Sb, Hg, Ni, Cd, Bi, Mo, U and Te) fall into the category of intense to an ultra-rich. The pollution factor (CF) results revealed that the elements (Ni, Se, Cd, Sb, Te, Hg, Bi, and Zn) fall within a very high pollution class. The pollution degree index (Cdeg) shows that the five sample sites had a very high pollution. The Potential Environmental Hazard Index (PERI) recorded a very high risk for all sample sites in the hospital. As for the model of evaluating the health risks of heavy elements (As, Cd, Co, Ni, and Pb), they indicated the presence of potential carcinogenic health risks for samples indoors and outdoors in the hospital building for adults and children when exposed to dust-contaminated with these elements.