Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine (DIM), Section of Occupational Medicine "B.Ramazzini", School of Medicine, University of Bari "A. Moro", Bari, Italy.
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Occupational Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
Front Public Health. 2020 Jul 17;8:271. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00271. eCollection 2020.
Port workers are exposed to a wide range of occupational hazards that can cause injuries and occupational diseases. Among these, exposure to benzene is one of the most important but least studied. The highest occupational exposures for port workers occur during the filling and loading of gasoline, and cleaning of tanks and receptacles. The aim of the study was to evaluate occupational exposure to low levels of benzene by measuring trans,trans-muconic acid (t,t-MA) in urine samples from workers operating at fuelling stations in a tourist port of Southern Italy. The overall sample was composed of 43 port workers of a tourist port in Southern Italy. In 2018, each participant provided two (morning and evening) urine samples for the determination of urinary t,t-MA. Urinary excretion of t,t-MA was always higher at the end of the work shift than at the beginning with significant difference ( = 0.002). In smokers, median t,t-MA urinary excretion is higher than non-smokers both at the beginning (90.5 μg/g creatinine vs. 61.45 μg/g creatinine) and at the end of the work shift (128.2 μg/g creatinine vs. 89.5 μg/g creatinine). Urinary excretion of t,t-MA is higher at the end of the work shift than at the beginning in both smokers and non-smokers, but the difference is significantly higher in non-smokers ( = 0.003) than in smokers ( = 0.05). In conclusion, our results showed that the role of inhaled benzene at fuelling stations in a tourist port can be relevant. On the basis of these results and the known adverse effects of benzene on human health, we encourage the use of personal protective equipment in the fuelling area of ports in order to minimize exposure to benzene to workers.
港口工人面临着广泛的职业危害，这些危害可能导致伤害和职业病。在这些危害中，接触苯是最重要但研究最少的危害之一。港口工人的最高职业暴露发生在给汽油加油和清洗罐和容器时。本研究的目的是通过测量在意大利南部一个旅游港口的加油站工作的工人尿液中的反,反-粘康酸（t,t-MA）来评估低水平苯的职业暴露。总体样本由意大利南部一个旅游港口的 43 名港口工人组成。2018 年，每位参与者提供了两份（早晨和晚上）尿液样本以测定尿液中的 t,t-MA。尿液中 t,t-MA 的排泄在工作结束时总是高于开始时，差异具有统计学意义（=0.002）。在吸烟者中，t,t-MA 尿液排泄在工作开始时（90.5μg/g 肌酐比 61.45μg/g 肌酐）和工作结束时（128.2μg/g 肌酐比 89.5μg/g 肌酐）均高于非吸烟者。在吸烟者和非吸烟者中，工作结束时尿液中 t,t-MA 的排泄均高于开始时，但非吸烟者之间的差异明显高于吸烟者（=0.003）。结论：我们的结果表明，旅游港口加油站吸入的苯可能具有重要作用。基于这些结果和苯对人类健康的已知不良影响，我们鼓励在港口加油区使用个人防护设备，以尽量减少工人接触苯。
