Estimates of Inhalation Exposures to Oil-Related Components on the Supporting Vessels During the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Details

• Personal Author:
  Banerjee S ; Blair, Austin ; Engel LS ; Groth CP ; Huynh TB ; Kwok RK ; Ramachandran G ; Sandler DP ; Stenzel M ; Stewart PA
• Description:
  The Deepwater Horizon oil spill response and clean-up (OSRC) involved over 9000 large and small vessels deployed in waters of the Gulf of Mexico across four states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi). For the GuLF STUDY, we developed exposure estimates of oil-related components for many work groups to capture a wide range of OSRC operations on these vessels, such as supporting the four rig vessels charged with stopping the spill at the wellhead; skimming oil; in situ burning of oil; absorbing and containing oil by boom; and environmental monitoring. Work groups were developed by: (i) vessel activity; (ii) location (area of the Gulf or state); and (iii) time period. Using Bayesian methods, we computed exposure estimates for these groups for: total hydrocarbons measured as total petroleum hydrocarbons (THC), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and n-hexane (BTEX-H). Estimates of the arithmetic means for THC ranged from 0.10 ppm [95% credible interval (CI) 0.04, 0.38 ppm] in time periods 2 and 3 (16 July-30 September 2010) to 15.06 ppm (95% CI 10.74, 22.41 ppm) in time period 1a (22 April-15 May 2010). BTEX-H estimates were substantially lower (in the parts per billion range). Exposure levels generally fell over time and differed statistically by activity, location, and time for some groups. These exposure estimates have been used to develop job-exposure matrices for the GuLF STUDY. A correction to this article was published on April 7, 2022: https://doi.org/10.1093/annweh/wxac018. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Benzene Emergency Responders Environmental Exposure Epidemiology Hazardous Substances Hexanes Hydrocarbons Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Oil And Gas Industry Respiratory System Safety Toluene Xylenes

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• Keywords:
  Analytical Models Analytical Processes Author Keywords: Bayesian Methods BTEX Censored Data Chemical Hazards Chemicals Deepwater Horizon Disaster Clean-up Disaster Recovery Disaster Sites Emergency Responders Ethyl Benzene Ethylbenzene Exposure Assessment Exposure Levels Humans Inhalation Inhalation Studies Job Analysis N-Hexane Occupational Exposure Oil Industry Oil Spill Inhalation Exposure Oil Spills Regression Analysis Spill Cleanup Statistical Analysis Task Performance THCs Total Hydrocarbons Xylene

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• ISSN:
  2398-7308
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Maryland ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Pennsylvania ; Virginia ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  66
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062370
• Citation:
  Ann Work Expo Health 2022 Apr; 66(Suppl 1):i111-i123
• Contact Point Address:
  Tran B. Huynh, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, 3215 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19004, USA
• Email:
  tbh38@drexel.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2) ; Ethylbenzene (CAS RN 100-41-4) ; Hexane (CAS RN 110-54-3) ; Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3) ; Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20160901
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Work Exposures and Health
• Supplement:
  1
• End Date:
  20190831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:43734fc8f1d73c5fb1d089aba55e11a0f9be7ca95d79624af9dbf02099c4df770b2816733aa1c79321811737e4ca3a9cc9fceef8e7b4a747c24f3129d4aed9d1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225633/cdc_225633_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.17 MB ]