Centre for Public Health Research, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand.
Department of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Ann Work Expo Health. 2020 Oct 8;64(8):826-837. doi: 10.1093/annweh/wxaa052.
Previous studies have reported high concentrations of airborne fumigants and other chemicals inside unopened shipping containers, but it is unclear whether this is reflective of worker exposures.
We collected personal 8-h air samples using a whole-air sampling method. Samples were analysed for 1,2-dibromoethane, chloropicrin, ethylene oxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen phosphide, methyl bromide, 1,2-dichloroethane, C2-alkylbenzenes, acetaldehyde, ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, methanol, styrene, and toluene. Additive Mixture Values (AMVs) were calculated using the New Zealand Workplace Exposure standard (WES) and American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) of the 8-h, time-weighted average exposure limit. Linear regression was conducted to assess associations with work characteristics.
We included 133 workers handling shipping containers, 15 retail workers unpacking container goods, 40 workers loading fumigated and non-fumigated export logs, and 5 fumigators. A total of 193 personal 8-h air measurements were collected. Exposures were generally low, with >50% below the limit of detection for most chemicals, and none exceeding the NZ WES, although formaldehyde exceeded the TLV in 26.2% of all measurements. The AMV-TLV threshold of 1 was exceeded in 29.0% of the measurements. Levels and detection frequencies of most chemicals varied little between occupational groups, although exposure to methyl bromide was highest in the fumigators (median 43 ppb) without exceeding the TLV of 1000 ppb. Duration spent inside the container was associated with significantly higher levels of ethylene oxide, C2-alkylbenzenes, and acetaldehyde, but levels were well below the TLV/WES. Exposure levels did not differ between workers handling fumigated and non-fumigated containers.
Personal exposures of workers handling container cargo in New Zealand were mainly below current exposure standards, with formaldehyde the main contributor to overall exposure. However, as it is not clear whether working conditions of participants included in this study were representative of this industry as a whole, and not all relevant exposures were measured, we cannot exclude the possibility that high exposures may occur in some workers.
先前的研究报告称，在未开封的运输集装箱内空气中存在高浓度的熏蒸剂和其他化学物质，但尚不清楚这是否反映了工人的接触情况。
我们使用全空气采样法采集了 8 小时个人空气样本。使用新西兰工作场所暴露标准（WES）和美国政府工业卫生学家会议（ACGIH）的 8 小时时间加权平均暴露限值的阈限值（TLVs）计算了 1,2-二溴乙烷、氯化苦、环氧乙烷、氰化氢、磷化氢、溴甲烷、1,2-二氯乙烷、C2-烷基苯、乙醛、氨、苯、甲醛、甲醇、苯乙烯和甲苯的添加剂混合值（AMVs）。进行线性回归以评估与工作特征的相关性。
我们纳入了 133 名处理运输集装箱的工人、15 名拆开集装箱货物的零售工人、40 名装卸熏蒸和非熏蒸出口原木的工人和 5 名熏蒸工人。共采集了 193 份 8 小时个人空气测量值。暴露水平普遍较低，大多数化学物质的 50%以上低于检测限，且均未超过新西兰 WES，尽管在所有测量值中有 26.2%的甲醛超过了 TLV。AMV-TLV 阈值 1 在 29.0%的测量值中超过。虽然在熏蒸工人中，甲基溴的暴露量最高（中位数为 43 ppb），但未超过 1000 ppb 的 TLV，但大多数化学物质的水平和检测频率在不同职业群体之间差异不大。在容器内停留的时间与环氧乙烷、C2-烷基苯和乙醛的水平显著相关，但水平远低于 TLV/WES。处理熏蒸和非熏蒸容器的工人之间的暴露水平没有差异。
新西兰处理集装箱货物的工人的个人接触量主要低于当前的接触标准，甲醛是总暴露的主要贡献者。然而，由于目前尚不清楚参与这项研究的工人的工作条件是否代表整个行业的情况，而且并非所有相关暴露都得到了测量，因此我们不能排除在某些工人中可能出现高暴露的可能性。
