Summary
For a period of one week the presence of organic solvents, e.g. toluene, xylene and MEK, was investigated (environmental monitoring) in the indoor air of a car-body repair shop, an offset printing office and their surrounding houses. Concurrently the individual exposure of employees and residents was investigated by biological monitoring of the exhaled breath with additional personal air sampling of the employees. Both the car-body repair shop and the offset-printing office proved to be a source of organic solvents for the houses situated above. The concentrations in both factories were lower than 5% of the respective Dutch MAC-values. In the houses situated above the concentrations were distinctly higher than the concentrations in the referent houses. The dispersion of the organic solvents was predominantly vertical. Concentrations decreased with the increase of the distance from the source, but accummulation occurred in the top floor of the building. At the concentrations found, environmental monitoring provided the best method of obtaining reliable information about the exposure of employees and of the residents of adjacent houses.
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Verhoeff, A.P., Wilders, M.M.W., Monsters, A.C. et al. Organic solvents in the indoor air of two small factories and surrounding houses. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 59, 153–163 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378493
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378493