Abstract
The occupational exposure to airborne fine and ultrafine particles (UFPs) and noise in aircraft personnel employed in airport taxiway was investigated. Stationary samplings and multiple personal sampling sites and job tasks were considered. Size distribution, particle number concentrations, lung dose surface area were measured by personal particle counters and by means of an electric low pressure impactor (ELPI+TM). Morphological and chemical characterization of UFPs were performed by transmission and scanning electron microscopy, the latter together with energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy based spatially resolved compositional mapping. A-weighted noise exposure level A-weighted noise exposure level normalized to an 8 h working day and Peak Sound C-weighted Pressure Level was calculated for single worker and for homogeneous exposure groups. Our study provides evidence on the impact of aviation-related emissions on occupational exposure to ultrafine particles and noise exposure of workers operating in an airport taxiway. Main exposure peaks are related to pre-flight operations of engine aircrafts. Although exposure to ultrafine particles and noise appears to not be critical if compared with other occupational scenarios, the coincidence in time of high peaks of exposure to ultrafine particles and noise suggest that further investigations are warranted in order to assess possible subclinical and clinical adverse health effects in exposed workers, especially for cardiovascular apparatus.
Highlights
Several studies have identified civil and military aircraft activity as a potential source of particulate matter emission near airport zones [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
These tasks are characterized by a different source of emission: diesel fumes derived from engines used by flight security officer and Firefighting officers, while Aircraft Ground Equipment personnel (AGE) personnel are principally exposed to aircraft fumes
Mazaheri et al [48] showed that the Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) analysis on particle emitted by aircraft showed the main elements in the nucleation particles were C, O, S and Cl and the particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) analysis of the airfield samples was generally in agreement with the EDX in detecting S, Cl, K, Fe and Si in the particles
Summary
Several studies have identified civil and military aircraft activity as a potential source of particulate matter emission near airport zones [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. It was highlighted that aircraft activity could contribute to increasing the levels of fine and ultrafine particles (UFPs) in the surrounding environment, with potential effects on the health of the population in the vicinity of the emission source [8,9,10,11]. In the last twenty years the research has focused on the analysis and evaluation of the fine and ultrafine particulate emissions associated with the airport activity, in particular on aircraft emissions and on exposure of the population living near airports [8,12]. To the best of our knowledge, to date only two studies have evaluated personal exposure to UFPs in airport work environments [2,19]
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