VOCs Measurements in Residential Buildings: Quantification via Thermal Desorption and Assessment of Indoor Concentrations in a Case-Study

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) represent one of the most important categories of pollutants, influencing the air quality and human health and well-being in indoor environments. In the present study, 12 selected VOCs were sampled using Tenax TA tubes and analyzed by thermal desorption combined with gas chromatography and a flame ionization detector (TD-GC-FID). The TD-GC-FID method was optimized to obtain the separation of all the analytical peaks (including m- and p-xylene) and a satisfactory sensitivity, with low detection (between 0.14 and 0.31 ng) and quantification (between 0.47 and 1.02 ng) limits. The whole procedure was firstly assessed with the analysis of four co-located tubes exposed at an outdoor monitoring site, with results that revealed a very low inter-tubes variability (relative standard deviations of parallel measurements <5%). Then, the measurement protocol was used to quantify the indoor concentrations of the target VOCs in nine different homes during the dishwasher washing cycle. The most abundant detected VOC in all dwellings was d-limonene (mean: 231 µg/m3; maximum: 611 µg/m3). All the other compounds were monitored at concentration levels one or two orders of magnitude lower than d-limonene, and were generally comparable with those found in the scientific literature. In terms of health concerns, the measured concentrations were always well below the safe levels established for the protection of the general population in living environments

Monitor and sensors 2.0 for exposure assessment to airborne pollutants

In recent years, the issue of exposure assessment to airborne pollutants has become increasingly popular, both in the occupational and environmental fields. The increasingly stringent national and international air quality standards and exposure limit values both for indoor environments and occupational exposure limit values have been developed with the aim of protecting the health of the general population and workers. On the other hand, this requires a considerable and continuous development of the technologies used to monitor the concentrations of the pollutants to ensure the reliability of the exposure assessment studies. In this regard, one of the most interesting aspects is certainly the development of “new generation” instrumentation for monitoring airborne pollutants (“Next Generation Monitors and Sensors” – NGMS). The main purpose of this work is to analyze the state of the art regarding the afore-mentioned instrumentation, to be able to investigate any practical applications within exposure assessment studies. In this regard, a systematic review of the scientific literature was carried out using three different databases (Scopus, PubMed and Web of Knowledge) and the results were analyzed in terms of the objectives set out above. What emerged is the fact that the use of NGMSs is increasingly growing within the scientific community for exposure assessment studies applied to the occupational and environmental context. The investigated studies have emphasized that NGMSs cannot be considered, in terms of the reliability of the results, to be equal to the reference measurement tools and techniques (i.e., those defined in recognized methods used for regulatory purposes), but they can certainly be integrated into the internal exposure assessment studies to improve their spatial-temporal resolution. These tools have the potential to be easily adapted to different types of studies, are characterized by a small size, which allows them to be worn comfortably without affecting the normal activities of workers or citizens, and by a relatively low cost. Despite this, there is certainly a gap with respect to the reference instrumentation, regarding the measurement performance and quality of the data provided; the objective to be set, however, is not to replace the traditional instrumentation with NGMSs but to integrate and combine the two typologies of instruments to benefit from the strengths of both, therefore, the desirable future developments in this sense has been discussed in this work

Smart-working VS office work: how does personal exposure to different air pollutants change?

The COVID-19 pandemic is raging all over the world, with possible structural effects on the work: the smart-working (WFH -Working From Home) role is therefore emphasized by the fact that it could become a traditional way of working in many work sectors. Several scientific papers have recently analyzed the WFH phenomenon under different aspects, but scientific studies have not yet been conducted considering the differences between WFH and WFO (Working From Office), in terms of evaluation of personal exposure assessment to selected airborne pollutants. This study, therefore, aims to evaluate, using portable monitors, the differences in terms of personal exposure to selected airborne pollutants, during different working conditions (WFO vs WFH), over long periods of time (from days to weeks), extending the results to even longer periods (years), to adhere to the approach proposed by the concept of the exposome. The preliminary results of this study refer to three separate phases of the work (i) re-analyses of literature data via Monte Carlo simulation, and assessment of personal exposure to different air pollutants during different working conditions, during (ii) “long term” campaign and (iii) a “short term” monitoring campaign. During the two different measurement campaigns, portable instrumentation was used, because of the ability of these kinds of instruments to obtain data characterized by a high spatial and temperature resolution. The re-elaborations of the data obtained from the literature show how, under different conditions, the exposure concentrations to different PM fractions are statistically lower in WFH working conditions, compared to WFO conditions. These results are in contrast with the preliminary results obtained from exploratory monitoring (both for the “long term” and for the “short term” campaigns). The results obtained from these exploratory monitoring show that the WFH condition has a greater impact on the daily exposure of the monitored subjects, compared to the WFO condition

Studies on Air Pollution and Air Quality in Rural and Agricultural Environments: A Systematic Review

Studies on air quality in rural environments are fundamental to obtain first-hand data for the determination of base emissions of air pollutants, to assess the impact of rural-specific airborne pollutants, to model pollutant dispersion, and to develop proper pollution mitigation technologies. The literature lacks a systematic review based on the evaluation of the techniques and methods used for the sampling/monitoring (S/M) of atmospheric pollutants in rural and agricultural settings, which highlights the shortcomings in this field and the need for future studies. This work aims to review the study design applied for on-field monitoring campaigns of airborne pollutants in rural environments and discuss the possible needs and future developments in this field. The results of this literature review, based on the revision of 23 scientific papers, allowed us to determine (i) the basic characteristics related to the study design that should always be reported; (ii) the main techniques and analyses used in exposure assessment studies conducted in this type of setting; and (iii) contextual parameters and descriptors of the S/M site that should be considered to best support the results obtained from the different studies. Future studies carried out to monitor the airborne pollution in rural/agriculture areas should (i) include the use of multiparametric monitors for the contextual measurement of different atmospheric pollutants (as well as meteorological parameters) and (ii) consider the most important boundary information, to better characterize the S/M site

mass concentration and size distribution of atmospheric particulate matter in an urban environment

To investigate the ambient mass concentration, size-distribution and temporal variability of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), a long-term monitoring campaign was undertaken at an urban background site in Como, Northern Italy, from May 2015 to March 2016. A 13-stage Low Pressure Impactor (DLPI) was used for the collection of size-segregated particulates in the 0.028-10 μm size range. The results revealed a good level of agreement between DLPI and a co-located Harvard-type PM_(2.5) Impactor, allowing them to be classified as comparable and characterized by a reciprocal predictability. The PM concentration levels varied greatly between the different 5-days monitoring sessions, with higher mean mass concentrations during the heating season. Appreciable seasonal differences were found for particles between 0.15 and 1.60 μm that, on average, registered concentration levels 3.5 times higher during the heating season (mean: 28.2 μg m^(-3); median: 24.4 μg m^(-3)) compared to the non-heating season (mean: 8.3 μg m^(-3); median: 7.6 μg m^(-3)). No relevant and significant differences were detected for the coarser ranges (> 1.60 μm). Temporal variabilities were influenced by typical PM urban sources (e.g., household heating, traffic), that significantly affected fine and submicrometer particles, and were related to meteorological factors. Ambient air particles exhibited a trimodal distribution: a first and sharp peak more pronounced during the heating season was identified between 0.3 and 0.5 μm and two other slight peaks in the coarse mode were centered on approximately 3 and 8 μm. No relevant differences were found in the shape of the size-distribution between the two investigated seasons. The mean PM_(2.5) (22.4 μg m^(-3)) and PM_(10) (27.7 μg m^(-3)) concentrations monitored in the study area exceeded the annual Air Quality Guideline Values (respectively equal to 10 μg m^(-3) and 20 μg m^(-3)) established by the World Health Organization

Smart working in Italy: what aspects to consider in terms of health prevention and protection?

Agile (or remote) work has spread since the early 90s, but the adoption of this type of work hasn’t always been exploit ed to its full potential. Recently, this way of working has acquired greater importance: in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to limit the number of infections, and consequent number of deaths and hospital admissions, many coun tries have adopted a wide spectrum of containment measures, such as encouraging (or oblige) people to work remote ly, whenever possible. Due to this containment measure, millions of workers around the world have been destined to work from home. Moreover, it would seem that this mode of working will stand out as a hybrid mode form, to ensure a better balance between office- and home-working. For this reason, the present work aims to highlight the main out comes from studies conducted in Italy, concerning the positive and negative effects of smart working, reporting the gaps relating to the assessments of the remote working environment. To achieve this goal, results (N: 9 scientific papers) obtained from a search query set for extraction of studies from a scientific literature database were analyzed. In addition to report the positive and negative effects of smart working, our research shows that the studies conducted in Italy regarding this way of working are still scarce and based only on the administration of a questionnaire (or on the conduction of an interview) to workers. No real assessments have been performed, in terms of workers’ safety and health, in the condition of working from home. An in depth analysis of the experience of employees involved in remote working conditions could be of particular interest in future studies, to maximize the positive aspects and reduce the risks of worsening the physical and psy chosocial well-being of employees. In fact, if smart working would become a common way of working as reported in the literature, it could have a significant impact on both organizations and employees and it should therefore be investigated in the best possible wa

Asbestos Exposure in Patients with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma included in the PRIMATE Study, Lombardy, Italy

The PRIMATE study is an Italian translational research project, which aims to identify personalized biomarkers associated with clinical characteristics of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). For this purpose, characteristics of MPM patients with different degrees of asbestos exposure will be compared to identify somatic mutations, germline polymorphism, and blood inflammatory biomarkers. In this framework, we assessed exposure to asbestos for 562 cases of MPM extracted from the Lombardy region Mesothelioma Registry (RML), for which a complete interview based on a standardized national questionnaire and histopathological specimens were available. Exposure assessment was performed: (1) through experts' evaluation (considered as the gold standard for the purpose of this study), according to the guidelines of the Italian National Mesothelioma Registry (ReNaM) and (2) using a job-exposure matrix (SYN-JEM) to obtain qualitative (ever/never) and quantitative estimates of occupational asbestos exposure (cumulative exposure expressed in fibers per mL (f/mL)). The performance of SYN-JEM was evaluated against the experts' evaluation. According to experts' evaluation, occupational asbestos exposure was recognized in 73.6% of men and 23.6% of women; furthermore, 29 men (7.8%) and 70 women (36.9%) had non-occupational exposure to asbestos. When applying SYN-JEM, 225 men (60.5%) and 25 women (13.2%) were classified as occupationally exposed, with a median cumulative exposure higher for men (1.7 f/mL-years) than for women (1.2 f/mL-years). The concordance between the two methods (Cohen’s kappa) for occupational exposure assessment was 0.46 overall (0.41 in men, and 0.07 in women). Sensitivity was higher in men (0.73) than in women (0.18), while specificity was higher in women (0.88) than in men (0.74). Overall, both methods can be used to reconstruct past occupational exposure to asbestos, each with its own advantages and limitations. View Full-Tex

Assessment of exposure determinants and exposure levels by using stationary concentration measurements and a probabilistic near-field/far-field exposure model

Background: The Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation requires the establishment of Conditions of Use (CoU) for all exposure scenarios to ensure good communication of safe working practices. Setting CoU requires the risk assessment of all relevant Contributing Scenarios (CSs) in the exposure scenario. A new CS has to be created whenever an Operational Condition (OC) is changed, resulting in an excessive number of exposure assessments. An efficient solution is to quantify OC concentrations and to identify reasonable worst-case scenarios with probabilistic exposure modeling. Methods: Here, we appoint CoU for powder pouring during the industrial manufacturing of a paint batch by quantifying OC exposure levels and exposure determinants. The quantification was performed by using stationary measurements and a probabilistic Near-Field/Far-Field (NF/FF) exposure model. Work shift and OC concentration levels were quantified for pouring TiO 2 from big bags and small bags, pouring Micro Mica from small bags, and cleaning. The impact of exposure determinants on NF concentration level was quantified by (1) assessing exposure determinants correlation with the NF exposure level and (2) by performing simulations with different OCs. Results: Emission rate, air mixing between NF and FF and local ventilation were the most relevant exposure determinants affecting NF concentrations. Potentially risky OCs were identified by performing Reasonable Worst Case (RWC) simulations and by comparing the exposure 95 th percentile distribution with 10% of the occupational exposure limit value (OELV). The CS was shown safe except in RWC scenario (ventilation rate from 0.4 to 1.6 1/h, 100 m 3 room, no local ventilation, and NF ventilation of 1.6 m 3/min). Conclusions: The CoU assessment was considered to comply with European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) legislation and EN 689 exposure assessment strategy for testing compliance with OEL values. One RWC scenario would require measurements since the exposure level was 12.5% of the OELV

Assessment of exposure determinants and exposure levels by using stationary concentration measurements and a probabilistic near-field/far-field exposure model

Funding Information: The authors thank Prof. Paul Hewett (Exposure Assessment Solutions, Inc., Morgantown, WV) for his assistance with revising the probabilistic exposure model parametrization and interpretation of the results. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Koivisto AJ et al.Background: The Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation requires the establishment of Conditions of Use (CoU) for all exposure scenarios to ensure good communication of safe working practices. Setting CoU requires the risk assessment of all relevant Contributing Scenarios (CSs) in the exposure scenario. A new CS has to be created whenever an Operational Condition (OC) is changed, resulting in an excessive number of exposure assessments. An efficient solution is to quantify OC concentrations and to identify reasonable worst-case scenarios with probabilistic exposure modeling. Methods: Here, we appoint CoU for powder pouring during the industrial manufacturing of a paint batch by quantifying OC exposure levels and exposure determinants. The quantification was performed by using stationary measurements and a probabilistic Near-Field/Far-Field (NF/FF) exposure model. Work shift and OC concentration levels were quantified for pouring TiO 2 from big bags and small bags, pouring Micro Mica from small bags, and cleaning. The impact of exposure determinants on NF concentration level was quantified by (1) assessing exposure determinants correlation with the NF exposure level and (2) by performing simulations with different OCs. Results: Emission rate, air mixing between NF and FF and local ventilation were the most relevant exposure determinants affecting NF concentrations. Potentially risky OCs were identified by performing Reasonable Worst Case (RWC) simulations and by comparing the exposure 95 th percentile distribution with 10% of the occupational exposure limit value (OELV). The CS was shown safe except in RWC scenario (ventilation rate from 0.4 to 1.6 1/h, 100 m 3 room, no local ventilation, and NF ventilation of 1.6 m 3/min). Conclusions: The CoU assessment was considered to comply with European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) legislation and EN 689 exposure assessment strategy for testing compliance with OEL values. One RWC scenario would require measurements since the exposure level was 12.5% of the OELV.Peer reviewe