| Title: | Off-Gassing of Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds from Fire-Fighters' Uniforms in Private Vehicles-A Pilot Study |
| Author(s): | Banks APW; Wang X; He C; Gallen M; Thomas KV; Mueller JF; |
| Address: | "QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia" |
| Journal Title: | Int J Environ Res Public Health |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1660-4601 (Electronic) 1661-7827 (Print) 1660-4601 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Firefighters' uniforms become contaminated with a wide range of chemicals, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Laundering practices do not completely remove PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs from firefighting uniforms. This residual contamination of firefighting ensembles may be an ongoing source of exposure to firefighters. Firefighters are known to occasionally store firefighting ensembles in private vehicles. This study aimed to assess whether a firefighting uniform in a vehicle could act as a source for PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs to vehicle users. The shell layers of four laundered firefighting uniforms were sampled non-destructively. Three of these uniforms were heated in a laboratory oven (40, 60, and 80 degrees C) while the fourth was placed in a private vehicle on a summer day and off-gassing samples were collected from the uniforms. The off-gassing results for PAHs and OPFRs were relatively consistent between laboratory oven and the in-vehicle sample with summation operator(13) PAHs in off-gas ranging from 7800-23,000 ng uniform(-1) day(-1), while the summation operator(6) OPFRs off-gassed was an order of magnitude lower at 620-1600 ng uniform(-1) day(-1). The off-gassing results for PBDEs were much lower and less consistent between the experiments, which may reflect differences in uniform history. Currently, there is limited understanding of how PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs off-gassed from firefighting uniforms influence firefighter exposure to these chemicals. These findings suggest that firefighting ensembles off-gassing in private vehicles could be a relevant source of PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs that contributes to firefighters' exposure and that this warrants further investigation" |
| Keywords: | Clothing Environmental Monitoring *Firefighters *Flame Retardants/analysis Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers/analysis Humans *Occupational Exposure/analysis Pilot Projects *Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons/analysis *Volatile Organic Compounds firefighters off-g; |
| Notes: | "MedlineBanks, Andrew P W Wang, Xianyu He, Chang Gallen, Michael Thomas, Kevin V Mueller, Jochen F eng Case Reports Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Switzerland 2021/04/04 Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Mar 16; 18(6):3030. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18063030" |
