A quantitative approach to the characterization of cumulative and average solvent exposure in paint manufacturing plants

Journal Article · Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/15298669191364640· OSTI ID:5455033

Ford, D P; Schwartz, B S; Powell, S; Nelson, T; Keller, L; Sides, S; Agnew, J; Bolla, K; Bleecker, M ^[1]

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1. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD (USA)

Previous reports have attributed a range of neurobehavioral effects to low-level, occupational solvent exposure. These studies have generally been limited in their exposure assessments and have specifically lacked good estimates of exposure intensity. In the present study, the authors describe the development of two exposure variables that quantitatively integrate industrial hygiene sampling data with estimates of exposure duration--a cumulative exposure (CE) estimate and a lifetime weighted average exposure (LWAE) estimate. Detailed occupational histories were obtained from 187 workers at two paint manufacturing plants. Historic industrial hygiene sampling data for total hydrocarbons (a composite variable of the major neurotoxic solvents present) were grouped according to 20 uniform, temporally stable exposure zones, which had been defined during plant walk-through surveys. Sampling at the time of the study was used to characterize the few zones for which historic data were limited or unavailable. For each participant, the geometric mean total hydrocarbon level for each exposure zone worked in was multiplied by the duration of employment in that zone; the resulting products were summed over the working lifetime to create the CE variable. The CE variable was divided by the total duration of employment in solvent-exposed jobs to create the LWAE variable. The explanatory value of each participant's LWAE estimate in the regression of simple visual reaction time (a neurobehavioral test previously shown to be affected by chronic solvent exposure) on exposure was compared with that of several other exposure variables, including exposure duration and an exposure variable based on an ordinal ranking of the exposure zones.

• OSTI ID: 5455033
• Journal Information: American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal; (United States), Vol. 52:6; ISSN 0002-8894
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
HYDROCARBONS
TOXICITY
NERVOUS SYSTEM
SENSITIVITY
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
BEHAVIOR
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
PAINTS
PERSONNEL
SOLVENTS
AIR POLLUTION
COATINGS
INDUSTRY
MONITORING
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
540120* - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
560300 - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology