Evaluation of Worker Exposure to Asphalt Roofing Fumes: Influence of Work Practices and Materials
A field study was conducted on 42 asphalt-roofing workers at 7 built-up roofing sites across the United States. Sixteen out of 42 samples show levels of exposure to asphalt fumes that exceed the current American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists' (ACGIH®)-recommended threshold li...
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| Published in: | Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene Vol. 1; no. 2; pp. 88 - 98 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
England
Taylor & Francis Group
01-02-2004
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | A field study was conducted on 42 asphalt-roofing workers at 7 built-up roofing sites across the United States. Sixteen out of 42 samples show levels of exposure to asphalt fumes that exceed the current American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists' (ACGIH®)-recommended threshold limit value of 0.5 mg/m
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as benzene extractable inhalable particulate. Statistically, the geometric mean of all 42 worker samples was 0.27 mg/m
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(geometric standard deviation = 3.40), the average was 0.70 mg/m
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(standard deviation = 1.69) and the median value was 0.24 mg/m
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. The impact of work practices is discussed including the use of a novel product that uses a polymer skin to reduce fumes from built up roofing asphalt. Its use resulted in a reduction of benzene soluble matter (BSM) of > 70%. Other testing measures utilized included total particulate matter, total organic matter, simulated distillation, and fluorescence analysis. Additionally, a controlled pilot study using 16 kettle-area and 16 worker samples clearly showed that when the temperature of the kettle was reduced by 28°C, there was a 38-59% reduction in fume exposure and a 54% reduction in fluorescence with standard asphalts. Reduction of BSM exposures using fuming-suppressed asphalt was also confirmed during this pilot plant study (81-92%), with fluorescence lowered by 88%. Confounding agents such as roof tear-off materials were also analyzed and their contribution to worker exposure is discussed. |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 1545-9624 1545-9632 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/15459620490275786 |