Assessing the risk to firefighters from chemical vapors and gases during vehicle fire suppression

Details

• Personal Author:
  Evans DE ; Fent, Kenneth W.
• Description:
  Despite the frequent occurrence of vehicle fires, very few studies investigating firefighters' potential inhalation exposures during vehicle fire suppression have been conducted. In this paper, we present an assessment of firefighters' health risk from vehicle fire suppression that accounts for the mixture of gases and vapors likely to be found in these fires. Summa canisters were used to collect emissions from the engine and cabin fires of a single vehicle and were analyzed for 75 volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Firefighters' breathing zone concentrations (BZCs) of aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, isocyanates, and carbon monoxide were measured during the suppression of three vehicle fires. The Summa canister and BZC data were used to develop a simple model for predicting BZCs for the compounds that were not measured in the firefighters' breathing zones. Hazard quotients (HQs) were calculated by dividing the predicted and measured BZCs by the most conservative short-term exposure limits (STELs) or ceiling limits. Hazard indices (HIs) were determined by adding HQs for compounds grouped by the target organ for acute health effects. Any HIs above unity represented unacceptable risks. According to this mixture analysis, the estimated 95th percentile of the exposure distribution for the study population represents >/= 9.2 times the acceptable level of risk to the respiratory tract and eyes. Furthermore, chemicals known or reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens contributed to >45% of these HIs. While STELs are not usually based on carcinogenicity, maintaining exposures below STELs may protect individuals from the biological stress that could result from short-term exposures to carcinogens over time. Although vehicle fires are suppressed quickly (<10 min), this assessment suggests that firefighters have the potential to be overexposed to acute toxins during vehicle fire suppression and should therefore wear self-contained breathing apparatus at all times during vehicle fire response. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Mining Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Aldehydes Aromatic-hydrocarbons Breathing-zone Carcinogens Emergency-responders Emergency-response Exposure-assessment Exposure-limits Eye-irritants Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Fire-fighting-equipment Fire-hazards Gases Health-hazards HETA 2008-0241-3113 Inhalants Inhalation-studies Isocyanates Motor-vehicles Organic-compounds Respiratory-irritants Risk-analysis Sampling Self-contained-breathing-apparatus Short-term-exposure Toxins Vapors Volatiles

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• ISSN:
  1464-0325
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  13
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038342
• Citation:
  J Environ Monit 2011 Mar; 13(3):536-543
• Contact Point Address:
  Kenneth W. Fent, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies, 4676 Columbia Parkway, MS R-11, Cincinnati, OH, 45226, USA
• Email:
  kfent@cdc.gov
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services ; Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Environmental Monitoring
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:da55b51d3de159e60a232e0d2d2145575b426b737e08436ddad2896ea9b78314dda8587b1bfb0761b256d3a7846294614652c0d577a09dc1cdb8890e05a21be9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192082/cdc_192082_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 592.31 KB ]