Dermal, inhalation and internal exposure to 1,6-HDI and its oligomers in car body repair shop workers and industrial spray painters

Anjoeka Pronk ^1*, Fang Yu ², Jelle Vlaanderen ¹, Erik Tielemans ³, Liesbeth Preller ³, Ivana Bobeldijk ³, James Deddens ⁴, Ute Latza ², Xaver Baur ² and Dick Heederik ¹

¹ Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Netherlands
² Institute for Occupational Medicine, University of Hamburg, Germany
³ TNO Quality of Life, Netherlands
⁴ Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Cincinnati, United States

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: a.pronk{at}iras.uu.nl.

Accepted 28 April 2006

Abstract

Objectives: To study inhalation and dermal exposure to hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) and its oligomers as well as personal protection equipment (PPE) use during task performance in conjunction with urinary hexamethylene diamine (HDA) in car body repair shop workers and industrial spray painters.

Methods: Personal task-based inhalation samples (n=95) were collected from 6 car body repair shops and 5 industrial painting companies using impingers with di-n- butylamine (DBA) in toluene. In parallel, dermal exposure was assessed using nitril rubber gloves. Gloves were submerged into DBA in toluene after sampling. Analysis for HDI and its oligomers was performed by LC- MS/MS. Urine samples were collected from 55 workers (n=291) and analysed for HDA by GC-MS.

Results: Inhalation exposure was strongly associated to tasks during which aerosolization occurs. Dermal exposure occurred during tasks that involve direct handling of paint. In car body repair shops associations were found between detectable dermal exposure and glove use (odds ratio (OR) 0.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.09-0.57) and inhalation exposure level (OR 1.34, 95%CI 0.97-1.84 for a 10-fold increase). HDA in urine could be demonstrated in 36% and 10% of car body repair shop workers and industrial painting company workers respectively. In car body repair shops, the frequency of detectable HDA was significantly elevated at the end of the working day (OR 2.13, 95%CI 1.07-4.22 for 3-6 PM vs. 0-8 AM). In both branches HDA was detected in urine of ~25% of the spray painters. In addition HDA was detected in urine of a large proportion of non-spray painters in car body repair shops.

Conclusion: Although (spray) painting with lacquers containing isocyanate hardeners results in the highest external exposures to HDI and oligomers, workers that do not perform paint related tasks may also experience a considerable internal dose.

Keywords: Isocyanate, biomonitoring, dermal, oligomers, spray painting

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Flack, S. L., Fent, K. W., Trelles Gaines, L. G., Thomasen, J. M., Whittaker, S., Ball, L. M., Nylander-French, L. A. (2009). Quantitative Plasma Biomarker Analysis in HDI Exposure Assessment. ANN OCCUP HYG 0: mep069v1-mep069 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Fent, K. W., Trelles Gaines, L. G., Thomasen, J. M., Flack, S. L., Ding, K., Herring, A. H., Whittaker, S. G., Nylander-French, L. A. (2009). Quantification and Statistical Modeling--Part II: Dermal Concentrations of Monomeric and Polymeric 1,6-Hexamethylene Diisocyanate. ANN OCCUP HYG 53: 691-702 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Virji, M. A., Woskie, S. R., Waters, M., Brueck, S., Stancescu, D., Gore, R., Estill, C., Prince, M. (2009). Agreement between Task-Based Estimates of the Full-Shift Noise Exposure and the Full-Shift Noise Dosimetry. ANN OCCUP HYG 53: 201-214 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Liu, Y., Stowe, M. H., Bello, D., Sparer, J., Gore, R. J., Cullen, M. R., Redlich, C. A., Woskie, S. R. (2009). Skin Exposure to Aliphatic Polyisocyanates in the Auto Body Repair and Refinishing Industry: III. A Personal Exposure Algorithm. ANN OCCUP HYG 53: 33-40 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Bobeldijk, I., Karlsson, D., Pronk, A., Gonsalves, J., Hekman, M., Van De Lagemaat, D., Preller, L., Heederik, D., Skarping, G. (2008). Validation of Transferability of DBA Derivatization and LC-MS/MS Determination Method for Isocyanates via an Interlaboratory Comparison. ANN OCCUP HYG 52: 757-763 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tinnerberg, H., Mattsson, C. (2008). Usage of Air Monitoring and Biomarkers of Isocyanate Exposure to Assess the Effect of a Control Intervention. ANN OCCUP HYG 52: 187-194 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Bello, D., Redlich, C. A., Stowe, M. H., Sparer, J., Woskie, S. R., Streicher, R. P., Hosgood, H. D., Liu, Y. (2008). Skin Exposure to Aliphatic Polyisocyanates in the Auto Body Repair and Refinishing Industry: II. A Quantitative Assessment. ANN OCCUP HYG 52: 117-124 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• LIU, Y., BELLO, D., SPARER, J. A., STOWE, M. H., GORE, R. J., WOSKIE, S. R., CULLEN, M. R., REDLICH, C. A. (2007). Skin Exposure to Aliphatic Polyisocyanates in the Auto Body Repair and Refinishing Industry: A Qualitative Assessment. ANN OCCUP HYG 51: 429-439 [Abstract] [Full Text]