A Survey of Occupational Inhalation Exposures to Propylene Oxide during Production and Use Operations in support of REACH registration/Erhebung über die berufsbedingte Inhalationsexposition gegenüber Propylenoxid bei Produktions- und Verwendungsvorgängen zur Unterstützung der REACH-Registrierung

Abstract

As an adjunct to the chemical safety assessments mandated under the REACH legislation (REACH: Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation of Chemicals) a measurement survey was conducted to collect and document personal exposures associated with the production and downstream use of propylene oxide. Using existing company in-house exposure monitoring capability short-term and long-term levels were obtained for employees from seven European production facilities which fell into one of six exposure groups: production operator, intermediate operator, product sampling, shipping (loading of train, truck, and ships or barges), equipment maintenance, and laboratory analysis. A total of approximately 200 personal exposure samples were collected over a period lasting from April 2013 to July 2014. The measurements were supplemented with approximately 50 archival measurements collected over a ten-year period from 1997 to 2007. The samples of the exposure values were analysed in a descriptive way. Exclusion criteria for sample quality were applied and absolute numerical values replaced left censored non-quantified measurements. The limits of quantification ranged between 0.02 mg/m3 and 23.0 mg/m3. Upper bounds of 95%-intervals for the mean values of the samples ranged from 0.20 mg/m3 to 1.96 mg/m3. Mean values were not calculated for the samples of the product sampling and equipment maintenance personnel since all measurements were below the respective limits of quantification. A majority of the amassed short-term samples were collected with shipping personnel who displayed a high degree of exposure variability with concentrations ranging as high as 168.3 mg/m3. A limited number of short-term samples were also collected in other exposure groups such as product sampling and laboratory analysis where the levels were below the respective limits of quantification. The exposure survey results provide a reasonable basis for use in chemical registration under REACH.