[Measurements of the levels of organic solvent vapours by personal air samplers and the levels of urinary metabolites of workers. Part 2. Toluene vapour in a shipbuilding yard (author's transl)].

Personal air samplers were applied to shipyard's painters putting on gas masks during the spraying work, and the levels of toluene vapour surrounding the workers were measured. On the other hand, levels of urinary hippuric acid (metabolites of toluene) of the workers were measured, and the levels of toluene vapour inhaled were calculated from the levels of urinary hippuric acid. Then the actual removing-efficiencies of toluene vapours by the use of gas masks were estimated from these two levels (i.e., toluene vapours exposed and inhaled). The values of removing-efficiencies were found to be 65.9-98.1%. The concentrations of hippuric and methylhippuric acids in the urine of workers exposed to toluene and xylene for 3 hours, collected just after the exposure, are valuable indices of these organic solvent vapours inhaled. A minute amount of urinary methylhippuric acid can be determined by means of gas chromatography.