Health Risk Assessment for Pest Control Workers Using Biocidal Products after COVID-19 Outbreak: A Comparison of EU and US

Abstract

After the COVID-19 outbreak, the workloads of disinfection have remarkably increased. As disinfectants are harmful to human, health risk assessment of disinfection workers is needed to ensure their safety. However, the acceptable operator exposure level (AOEL) for most disinfectants are not established. Moreover, the method of calculating the AOEL varies across the countries. This study aims to identify the health risks of disinfection workers based on two different risk assessment methods of EU and US after the COVID-19 outbreak. We surveyed 533 disinfection workers to identify exposure patterns of disinfectants. The inhalation and dermal exposure were calculated based on different work types. The AOEL was calculated and compared using the EU and US methods. The health risks of workers are determined by hazard index based on whether the exposure exceeds AOEL. Workers used 53 chemicals from 175 biocidal products, and only 34 chemicals (65%) had AOEL. 17 Chemicals with absorption factors for each route or AOEL were selected for risk assessment. When compared the estimated AOEL was calusing EU and US methods, only 2 (4%) were the same. The result of health risk assessment showed 10 (19%) were exceed 1 (acceptable level) using EU method, while 9 (17%) were exceed 1 using US method. This study performed the health risk assessment of disinfection workers based on EU and US methods after the COVID-19 outbreak. Only 65% had an AOEL, and health risks of workers were differd according to risk calculation methods of EU and US. Given the increasing use of biocides after the COVID-19 outbreak, AOEL need to be established for health risk assessment of workers. Biocides, Risk assessment, Reference dose, AOEL, COVID-19, pest control worker This study was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2021R1F1A1063967).