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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

In depth survey report of Carolina Freight Carriers, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and York, Pennsylvania

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6936115
An in-depth study was made of worker exposures to diesel exhaust as part of a case/control mortality and industrial hygiene study of truck drivers, dock workers and mechanics presumably exposed to this aerosol in the course of their jobs. Samplings were taken at the Carolina Freight Carriers Terminal located in Carlisle and York, Pennsylvania. Measurements of elemental carbon taken during mild weather conditions indicated exposures only slightly above ambient highway concentrations of 3.8 micrograms/cubic meter (microg/cu m) in most jobs. Geometric mean exposures to submicrometer elemental carbon ranged from 5.5 microg/cu m in dock workers using gas powered tow motors to 8.9 microg/cu m in road drivers driving road tractors equipped with horizontal exhaust systems. The geometric mean exposures to elemental carbon in all jobs were significantly higher than the geometric mean ambient concentration of 0.75 microg/cu m measured in a residential area of Harrisburg. Only very low or nondetectable levels of other components such as nitrogen oxides, respirable particulates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or nitro substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were reported from this sampling. Those which were detectable were far below allowable levels.
Research Organization:
National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH (USA). Div. of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluation and Field Studies
OSTI ID:
6936115
Report Number(s):
PB-90-155938/XAB; IWS--146.17
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English