A field evaluation of a new end-exhaled breath method to evaluate solvent exposure in dry-cleaning shops

Details

• Personal Author:
  Burroughs G ; Ernest G ; Ewers, Lynda M. ; Petersen, Martin R. ; Ruder A ; Sweet N
• Description:
  A field study was conducted using a newly developed, near-real-time method with a simple collection device and a portable gas chromatograph (NIOSH Method 3704) for estimating solvent exposure in the following-day, preshift breath of dry-cleaning shop workers. The purpose of this study was to document strategies for reducing exposures to perchloroethylene (PCE), a solvent used by more than 70% of dry cleaners and a potential occupational carcinogen. In this component of the study, PCE concentrations in workers' breath were compared with time-weighted averages (TWAs) calculated from personal breathing zone (PBZ) air samples. Three dry-cleaning shops and five workers participated. Workers were repeatedly monitored for solvent exposures one day a week using PBZ sampling; the corresponding breath samples were collected the following morning and conformed to ACGIH recommendations. Overall, PBZ-PCE concentrations ranged from 0.54 ppm to 94 ppm (mean of 26 ppm, n = 55); following-day breath PCE concentrations ranged from 0.18 ppm to 11 ppm (mean of 4.1 ppm, n = 57). A model was fit using the following-day breath PCE as the dependent variable and PBZ-PCE as the independent variable. Other independent variables were included in the full model and were iteratively eliminated if insignificant with a p-value greater than 0.05. The resulting least-squares equation explained 61% of the variability in the following day breath PCE concentration and contained PBZ-PCE concentrations, job title, and their interaction. This percentage of explained variability is similar to that obtained from data available in the published literature. However, the increase in breath PCE concentration per unit increase in PBZ-PCE concentration was lower than others have obtained using different sampling methods. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Carcinogens Environmental Monitoring Ethylenes Hazardous Substances Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Preceptorship Respiratory System Safety Solvents
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Analytical-instruments Analytical-Method Biological-monitoring Breathing Breathing-zone Dry-cleaning-industry Dry-cleaning-solvents Employee-exposure Exposure-assessment Field-Study Gas-chromatography Health-hazards Mathematical-models Sampling-equipment Sampling-methods Time-weighted-average-exposure

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• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DPSE - Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  36
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041432
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 20-25, 2000, Orlando, Florida. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2000 May; :36
• CAS Registry Number:
  Tetrachloroethylene (CAS RN 127-18-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 20-25, 2000, Orlando, Florida
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3d959e20f4f6d243e8094a8690c8e3a680182b61ef670ff88025f24e05d2a4c00ac4accd442bcc937c0a0c09a87a794f618bad6e08a38a07b43e3c77462b593e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194004/cdc_194004_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.00 MB ]