کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
4423140 1308811 2012 11 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
Retrospective exposure assessment in a chemical research and development facility
موضوعات مرتبط
علوم زیستی و بیوفناوری علوم محیط زیست شیمی زیست محیطی
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
Retrospective exposure assessment in a chemical research and development facility
چکیده انگلیسی

The objective of this exposure assessment was to reconstruct cumulative historical exposures for workers who have been exposed to multiple chemicals and chemical groups to better understand a cluster of brain cancers within a research and development lab. Chemicals of interest, including acrylates, bis-chloromethyl ether (BCME), chloromethyl methyl ether (CMME), isothiazolones and nitrosoamines, were selected on the basis of the plausibility of penetrating the blood–brain barrier and the uniqueness of the chemical's biological activity.In a complicated exposure setting such as a chemical R&D facility, multiple exposure estimation methods were needed. First, similarly exposure groups (SEGs) were created for these materials based on department group, time period of the department's existence and function associated with job titles. A probabilistic framework for assessing exposures was developed using Bayesian analysis of historical monitoring data, mathematical exposure modeling and professional judgments of current and former industrial hygienists at the facility were used to reconstruct the exposure history for acrylates, BCME and CMME for each SEG over the time period of interest. Since sufficient measurement data for isothiazolones and nitrosoamines were not available, the exposure histories for each SEG for these chemicals were estimated. This was done using objective formaldehyde levels and subjective employee interviews. The interviews assessed workplace determinants of exposure as distinct surrogates for estimating inhalation and dermal exposures. The exposure assessments by these methods were compared against each other to estimate the potential for exposure misclassification. A job exposure matrix (JEM) was constructed that contained the exposures obtained from above multiple approaches for each of these chemical groups for each SEG for each year of interest. The combination of methods used in this work is a unique and potentially helpful framework that can be used in analogous workplace settings involving multiple exposures with incomplete objective measurement information.


► We reconstruct historical exposures to multiple chemicals for workers in a chemical R&D facility.
► A Bayesian statistical framework for assessing exposures was developed.
► This combines monitoring data, mathematical modeling, and professional judgments of industrial hygienists.
► Another technique was the use of exposure surrogates to create useful metrics.
► The combination of methods used in this work is a unique and can be used in analogous workplace settings.

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Environment International - Volume 39, Issue 1, February 2012, Pages 111–121
نویسندگان
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