a Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Family & Preventive Medicine , University of Utah , Salt Lake City , UT 84108.
b Division of Environmental Health, Salt Lake County Health Department , Murray , UT 84107.
J Occup Environ Hyg. 2019 Feb;16(2):101-108. doi: 10.1080/15459624.2018.1540875. Epub 2019 Feb 27.
Air quality is a common concern among indoor ice rink facilities due to the use of gasoline/propane ice resurfacing equipment. Although previous studies have investigated spectator, guest, and skater exposures, a review of the literature revealed little published research regarding ice maintenance employees' exposures. Ice maintenance includes edging and resurfacing. The resurfacer is commonly referred to as a Zamboni®. Edging is almost always followed by resurfacing, but resurfacing frequently happens independently of edging. The purpose of this study was to characterize ice rink maintenance employees' exposures to CO and NO. Employees from four ice rinks in Salt Lake County, Utah were sampled using direct reading instruments during routine ice maintenance activities. Maintenance was divided into four activities: 1) Edging only, 2) Resurfacing after edging (not including edging), 3) Edging and resurfacing (Activities 1 and 2 combined), and 4) Resurfacing only (independent of edging). Activities 1, 2 and 3 were sampled twenty-four (n = 24) times. Activity 4 was sampled eight times. Sampling results were graphed and summarized using descriptive statistics. The highest measured CO concentration was 202 ppm, which occurred during edging. Average CO concentrations for all activities ranged from 0 ppm to 60.4 ppm. Minimal CO exposure was observed when resurfacing occurred without edging, which implies that elevated CO exposure measured while using the resurfacer may be residual CO from prior edging activities. NO concentrations were negligible for all rinks and all activities. Results confirmed that gasoline edgers significantly contribute to indoor CO levels, with peak levels exceeding some recommended exposure levels. Indoor ice rink facilities should monitor employees' CO exposures and implement procedures to limit exposures. This may be achieved by limiting the number of laps taken with the edger or replacing gasoline powered edgers with electric edgers.
空气质量是室内溜冰场设施的一个共同关注点，因为使用了汽油/丙烷冰面修整设备。尽管以前的研究已经调查了观众、客人和滑冰者的暴露情况，但对文献的回顾表明，关于冰面维护员工暴露情况的研究很少。冰面维护包括修边和修整。修整器通常被称为 Zamboni®。修边几乎总是紧随其后，但修整也经常独立于修边进行。本研究的目的是描述溜冰场维护员工接触 CO 和 NO 的情况。来自犹他州盐湖县的四个溜冰场的员工在常规冰面维护活动中使用直读仪器进行采样。维护分为四项活动：1）仅修边，2）修边后修整（不包括修边），3）修边和修整（活动 1 和 2 结合），以及 4）仅修整（独立于修边）。活动 1、2 和 3 被采样了二十四次（n=24）。活动 4 被采样了八次。采样结果用描述性统计数据进行了绘图和总结。测量到的最高 CO 浓度为 202ppm，发生在修边时。所有活动的平均 CO 浓度范围为 0ppm 至 60.4ppm。在没有修边的情况下进行修整时，观察到的 CO 暴露最小，这意味着在使用修整器时测量到的升高的 CO 暴露可能是先前修边活动的残留 CO。所有溜冰场和所有活动的 NO 浓度都可以忽略不计。结果证实，汽油修边机显著增加了室内 CO 水平，峰值水平超过了一些推荐的暴露水平。室内溜冰场设施应监测员工的 CO 暴露情况，并采取措施限制暴露。这可以通过限制使用修边机的圈数或用电动修边机代替汽油动力修边机来实现。
