Q.
MONITORING OF DIESEL PARTICULATE EXHAUST IN THE WORKPLACE by M. Eileen Birch, NIOSH/DART CONTENTS: 1.
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Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 a. Health Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 b. Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 c. Analyte Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Analytical Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 a. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 b. Instrumentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 c. Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 d. Air Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 e. Carbonates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 f. Sampling Artifacts: Organic Aerosol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 g. EC Oxidation in Helium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 h. Reference Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 i. Quality Assurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Interlaboratory Comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 a. NMAM 5040 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 b. Other Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Occupational Exposure Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
INTRODUCTION a. Health Effects In the United States alone, over a million workers (e.g., trucking, mining, railroad, agriculture) are occupationally exposed to diesel exhaust [1]. The widespread and growing use of dieselpowered equipment has raised concern because workers exposed to diesel exhaust show an elevated (20% to 50%) risk of lung cancer [2]. While environmental exposure is a concern, occupational exposure is a greater one because workplace exposures to diesel exhaust are generally much higher. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) considers diesel exhaust a potential occupational carcinogen and recommends that employers reduce workers’ exposures [1]. This [1988] recommendation was based on five independent animal studies in which rats exposed to unfiltered exhaust showed an increased incidence of benign and malignant lung tumors [3]. Other organizations, including the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) [3], the World Health Organization (WHO) [4], the California Environmental Protection Agency [5], the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) [6], and the National Toxicology Program [7] have reviewed the animal and human evidence, and each has classified diesel exhaust as a probable human carcinogen or similar designation.
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NIOSH Manuual of Analytical Methods
