Remote Zones Air Quality. Persistent Organic Pollutants: Sources, Sampling and Analysis

Concern about air quality has been rising since the Industrial Revolution and the so-called “Second Industrial Revolution” characterized by internal combustion engine, electrical technology and above all synthesis of new chemicals. Since then mankind has been facing the consequences of its thoughtless release of pollutants in atmosphere, consequences as reducing smog, acid rains and photochemical smog. Notwithstanding the seriousness of single episodes, these were local, or at most regional, phenomena. Nowadays, the variety of pollutants and the extent of pollution is greater than even in history, and air pollution problems are reaching up to global scale. In the last decades, it was established that manmade chemicals, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, chlorofluorocarbons and volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons, were present even in the remotest zones of the Earth, according to their volatility and half-life. This evidence stimulated the scientific community to monitor air quality of remote zones, areas considered a short time ago as uncontaminated. This chapter deals with different sampling and analysis techniques for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the atmosphere of remote zones. Features, sources and environmental fate of POPs are presented in the first section. The second section focuses on logistic and experimental difficulties connected to surveys in remote zones. The third section focuses on recent developments and improvements concerning sampling and analytical methods for POPs in air. The most significant findings on the presence of POPs in remote zones are shown in the last section

Indoor Air Quality. Volatile Organic Compounds: Sources, Sampling and Analysis

Since the 70s research has found in Europe and in the United States that individuals spend between 70 and 90% of their time indoors. Health studies have found that exposures to a variety of air pollutants indoors can be substantially higher than outdoors, even in urban environment. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are often more important, depending by their continue emission from many sources and their diffusion properties. In order to evaluate the occupants discomfort and health effects and developing guidelines and standards, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) assessment and control is an essential step; IAQ assessment will complain: Sources, Sampling Methods, Analysis and Data Meanin

Respiratory parameters at varied altitudes in intermittent mining work

Objectives: Workers in the mining industry in altitude are subjected to several risk factors, e.g., airborne silica and low barometric pressure. The aim of this study has been to assess the risks for this work category, evaluating single risk factors as airborne silica, altitude and work shift, and relating them with cardiovascular and ventilatory parameters. Material and Methods: Healthy miners employed in a mining company, Chile, working at varied altitudes, and subjected to unusual work shifts, were evaluated. Cardiovascular and respiratory parameters were investigated. Exposure to airborne silica was evaluated and compared to currently binding exposure limits. Results: At varied altitudes and work shifts, alterations emerged in haemoglobin, ventilation and respiratory parameters, related to employment duration, due to compensatory mechanisms for hypoxia. Haemoglobin increased with altitude, saturation fell down under 90% in the highest mines. The multiple linear regression analysis showed a direct relationship, in the higher mine, between years of exposure to altitude and increased forced vital capacity percent (FVC%), and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1). An inverse relationship emerged between forced vital capacity (FVC) and years of exposure to airborne silica. In the workplace Mina Subterrànea (MT-3600), statistically significant inverse relationship emerged between the Tiffeneau index and body weight. Conclusions: The working conditions in the mining industry in altitude appeared to be potentially pathogenic; further investigations should be realized integrating risk assessment protocols even in consideration of their undeniable unconventionality

Simultaneous sampling of vapor and particle-phase carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on functionalized glass fiber filters

The sampling of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the atmosphere is often performed on filters, which retain only aerosol particles, disregarding the vapor fraction; after the filter, an adsorbent (e.g., polyurethane foam, PUF, or styrene/divinylbenzene, XAD) is sometimes used for sampling vapors not retained from the filter. However, the use of an adsorbent may lead to many disadvantages: contaminations, analysis time and costs, and size problems when developing automated or personal samplers. In this work, a functionalized glass fiber filter for the simultaneous sampling of aerosol particles and vapor fraction is presented for the sampling of PAHs in air. A low sampling efficiency was observed for 3 ring PAHs, but all carcinogenic PAHs (according to IARC) were totally retained on functionalized filters. On the other hand, a comparison with normal filter sampling was performed, and results obtained confirm that > 10% of benzo(a)pyrene can be lost from normal filters. Together with size reduction, another advantage of the functionalized filter is an enhancement in the extraction and purification recovery. © Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research

IGIENE DEL LAVORO: AGENTI CHIMICI, FISICI E BIOLOGICI NELLE ATTIVITA' PRODUTTIVE

VOLUME AD AGGIORNAMENTO PERIODIC

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IGIENE E SICUREZZA SUL LAVORO (IPSOA INDICITALIA ED.)

BANCA DATI - RESPONSABILE DELLE MONOGRAFIE: - SOSTANZE CANCEROGENE: CLASSIFICAZIONE - SOSTANZE CANCEROGENE E MUTAGENE - SOSTANZE E PREPARATI PERICOLOSI - VALORI LIMITE DI ESPOSIZIONE (TLV) - MONITORAGGIO BIOLOGICO (IBE