Mass, Surface Area and Number Metrics in Diesel Occupational Exposure Assessment

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kittelson D ; Paulsen D ; Ramachandran G ; Watts W
• Description:
  While diesel aerosol exposure assessment has traditionally been based on the mass concentration metric, recent studies have suggested that particle number and surface area concentrations may be more healthrelevant. In this study, we evaluated the exposures of three occupational groups--bus drivers, parking garage attendants, and bus mechanics--using the mass concentration of elemental carbon (EC) as well as surface area and number concentrations. These occupational groups are exposed to mixtures of diesel and gasoline exhaust on a regular basis in various ratios. The three groups had significantly different exposures to workshift TWA EC with the highest levels observed in the bus garage mechanics and the lowest levels in the parking ramp booth attendants. In terms of surface area, parking ramp attendants had significantly greater exposures than bus garage mechanics, who in turn had significantly greater exposures than bus drivers. In terms of number concentrations, the exposures of garage mechanics exceeded those of ramp booth attendants by a factor of 5-6. Depending on the exposure metric chosen, the three occupational groups had quite different exposure rankings. This illustrates the importance of the choice of exposure metric in epidemiological studies. If these three occupational groups were part of an epidemiological study, depending on the metric used, they may or may not be part of the same similarly exposed group (SEG). The exposure rankings (e.g., low, medium, or high) of the three groups also changes with the metric used. If the incorrect metric is used, significant misclassification errors may occur. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Exposure Environmental Health Environmental Monitoring Environmental Pollution Hazardous Substances Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory System Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Air-contamination Airborne-particles Author Keywords: Acetone Biohazards Biological-effects Chemical Protective Gloves Decontamination Degradation Environmental-exposure Environmental-factors Environmental-hazards Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Fumes Health-hazards Inhalation-studies Mathematical-models Medical-surveys Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Physiological-effects Physiological-measurements Physiological-response Pollutants Quantitative-analysis Risk-analysis Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Surface-properties Tensile Strength Ultimate Elongation Work-environment Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  1464-0325
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  7
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037393
• Citation:
  J Environ Monit 2005 Jul; 7(7):728-735
• Contact Point Address:
  Gurumurthy Ramachandran, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, MMC 807, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• Performing Organization:
  University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Environmental Monitoring
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:09247f62e6cbce35d5e42f61ff551aeca14d3d4e167dd27f5179c76690164497ac0ec8538700dc5db11d26c5aec7b950de66001fdc61ddf85c59e87d812c5826
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/188492/cdc_188492_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 783.23 KB ]