Skin Exposure to Aliphatic Polyisocyanates in the Auto Body Repair and Refinishing Industry: III. A Personal Exposure Algorithm

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• Personal Author:
  Bello D ; Cullen MR ; Gore RJ ; Liu-Y ; Redlich CA ; Sparer, Judith ; Stowe MH ; Woskie SR
• Description:
  OBJECTIVES: Isocyanate skin exposure may play an important role in sensitization and the development of isocyanate asthma, but such exposures are frequently intermittent and difficult to assess. Exposure metrics are needed to better estimate isocyanate skin exposures. The goal of this study was to develop a semiquantitative algorithm to estimate personal skin exposures in auto body shop workers using task-based skin exposure data and daily work diaries. The relationship between skin and respiratory exposure metrics was also evaluated. METHODS: The development and results of respiratory exposure metrics were previously reported. Using the task-based data obtained with a colorimetric skin exposure indicator and a daily work diary, we developed a skin exposure algorithm to estimate a skin exposure index (SEI) for each worker. This algorithm considered the type of personal protective equipment (PPE) used, the percentage of skin area covered by PPE and skin exposures without and underneath the PPE. The SEI was summed across the day (daily SEI) and survey week (weekly average SEI) for each worker, compared among the job title categories and also compared with the respiratory exposure metrics. RESULTS: A total of 893 person-days was calculated for 232 workers (49 painters, 118 technicians and 65 office workers) from 33 auto body shops. The median (10th-90th percentile, maximum) daily SEI was 0 (0-0, 1.0), 0 (0-1.9, 4.8) and 1.6 (0-3.5, 6.1) and weekly average SEI was 0 (0-0.0, 0.7), 0.3 (0-1.6, 4.2) and 1.9 (0.4-3.0, 3.6) for office workers, technicians and painters, respectively, which were significantly different (P < 0.0001). The median (10th-90th percentile, maximum) daily SEI was 0 (0-2.4, 6.1) and weekly average SEI was 0.2 (0-2.3, 4.2) for all workers. A relatively weak positive Spearman correlation was found between daily SEI and time-weighted average (TWA) respiratory exposure metrics (microg NCO m(-3)) (r = 0.380, n = 893, P < 0.0001) and between weekly SEI and TWA respiratory exposure metrics (r = 0.482, n = 232, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The skin exposure algorithm developed in this study provides task-based personal daily and weekly average skin exposure indices that are adjusted for the use of PPE. These skin exposure indices can be used to assess isocyanate exposure-response relationships. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Asthma Asthma, Occupational Automobiles Irritants Isocyanates Lung Occupational Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory System Safety Skin Skin Absorption Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Auto Body Refinishing Automobile-repair-shops Automotive-industry Bronchial-asthma Exposure Assessment Exposure Modeling Hexamethylene Diisocyanate Mathematical-models Models Occupational-diseases Occupational-exposure PPE Pulmonary-system Quantitative-analysis Respiratory-irritants Sampling-methods Skin-absorption Skin-exposure Skin-irritants Skin-sensitivity Skin Exposure Statistical-analysis Task-based Exposure Metrics Time-weighted-average-exposure Work-environment Work-practices

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• ISSN:
  0003-4878
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Connecticut ; Kentucky ; Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  33-40
• Volume:
  53
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034987
• Citation:
  Ann Occup Hyg 2009 Jan; 53(1):33-40
• Contact Point Address:
  Youcheng Liu, Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, 121 Washington Avenue, Lexington, KY 40536
• Email:
  youcheng.liu@uky.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Occupational Hygiene
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:19fccf9888e0d646629ea4c4dc6d0690460e98c3d00097f7a7c91107e16f8c40f1803f1a09b90a1f250aa0e6bc4a30b6c62aa4a12a4378ef7513bf0f5d241b57
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186993/cdc_186993_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 121.27 KB ]