Skip to main content
Log in

Styrene exposure and biologic monitoring in FRP boat production plants

  • Published:
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

A survey on styrene exposure was conducted in five small to medium-sized fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) boat plants utilizing carbon felt dosimeters as personal and stationary samplers to measure 4 h (TWA) exposure during workday afternoons. The heaviest exposure, up to 256 ppm by personal sampling and 174 ppm by stationary sampling, took place during the lamination on a mold to produce a boat shell, and the work inside narrow holds also resulted in exposures of a comparable degree. Styrene levels were much lower in other auxiliary works. The TWA of exposure in an entire boat production was estimated to be 40–50 ppm. Installation of several flexible hoses as an exhaust system was proved to be effective in decreasing the vapor concentration. Gas masks were also useful in reducing the exposure. Urine samples were collected from 96 male workers at the end of 8h work (4 h in the morning and 4 h in the afternoon) and also from 22 nonexposed male subjects, and analyzed for mandelic acid (MA), phenylglyoxylic acid (PhGA), and hippuric acid (HA). When the results of urinalyses were compared with 4-h styrene TWA as monitored by personal sampling, the best correlation was obtained with MA + PhGA/creatinine (the correlation coefficient, 0.88), followed by MA (0.84). For these two cases, regression lines and 95% confidence limits for the group means and for the individual values were calculated. The urinary levels of MA, PhGA, and HA in the 22 nonexposed male subjects were also tabulated.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

TWA:

Time-weighted average

FID:

Flame ionization detectors

MA:

Mandelic acid

HA:

Hippuric acid

PhGA:

Phenylglyoxylic acid

References

  • Åstrand I, Kilbom Å, Övrum P, Wahlberg I, Vesterberg O (1974) Exposure to styrene. I Concentration in alveolar air and blood at rest and during exercise and metabolism. Work Environ Health 11:69–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks S, Anderson L, Emmett E, Carson A, Tsay J-Y, Elia V, Buncher R, Karbowsky R (1980) The effects of protective equipment on styrene exposure in workers in the reinforced plastics industry. Arch Environ Health 35:287–293

    Google Scholar 

  • Elia VJ, Anderson LA, MacDonald TJ, Carson A, Buncher CR, Brooks SM (1980) Determination of urinary mandelic and phenylglyoxylic acids in styrene exposed workers and a control population. Am Ind Hyg Ass J 41:922–926

    Google Scholar 

  • Fields RL, Horstman SW (1979) Biomonitoring of industrial styrene exposures. Am Ind Hyg Ass J 40:451–459

    Google Scholar 

  • Folin O (1914) On the determination of creatinine and creatine in urine. J Biol Chem 17:469–473

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganong WF (1973) Review of medical physiology, 6th edn. Lange Medical Publications, Drawer Los Altos, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillemin MP, Bauer D (1978) Biological monitoring of exposure to styrene by analysis of combined urinary mandelic and phenylglyoxylic acids. Am Ind Hyg Ass J 39:873–879

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillemin MP, Bauer D (1979) Human exposure to styrene. III Elimination kinetics of urinary mandelic and phenylglyoxylic acids after single experimental exposure. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 44:249–263

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillemin MP, Bauer D (1980) Delayed excretion of urinary metabolites after styrene exposure. Fact or artifact? Scand J Work Environ Health 6:158–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath DF (1967) Normal or log-normal: Appropriate distributions. Nature (Lond) 213:1159–1160

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirayama T, Ikeda M (1979) Applicability of carbon felt to the dosimetry of solvent vapor mixture. Am Ind Hyg Ass J 40:1091–1096

    Google Scholar 

  • IARC (1979) Vinylchloride, polyvinyl chloride and vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers. IARC Monographs on the evaluation of the carcinogenic risk of chemicals to humans 19:377–438

    Google Scholar 

  • Ikeda M, Hirayama T (1978) Possible metabolic interaction of styrene with organic solvents. Scand J Work Environ Health 4 (Suppl 2):41–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Ikeda M, Imamura T, Hayashi M, Tabuchi T, Hara I (1974) Evaluation of hippuric, phenylglyoxylic and mandelic acids in urine as indices of styrene exposure. Int Arch Arbeitsmed 32:93–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Ikeda M, Ohtsuji H (1969) Hippuric acid, phenol and trichloroacetic acid levels in the urine of Japanese subjects with no known exposure to organic solvents. Br J Ind Med 26:162–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson S (1966) Creatinine in urine as an index of urinary excretion rate. Health Physics 12:843–850

    Google Scholar 

  • Koizumi A, Hirayama T, Shiojima S, Ikeda M (1980) Evaluation of carbon felt dosimetry in comparison with one-shot air sampling method and biological monitoring. A field survey. Ind Health 18:153–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Koizumi A, Ikeda M (1981) A servomechanism for vapor concentration control in experimental exposure chambers. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J 42:417–425

    Google Scholar 

  • Leidel NA, Busch KA (1975) Statistical methods for the determination of noncompliance with occupational health standards. NIOSH technical information. HEW Publication No. (NIOSH) 75-159

  • Ogata M, Sugihara R (1978) High performance liquid chromatographic procedure for quantitative determination of urinary phenylglyoxylic, mandelic and hippuric acids as indices of styrene exposure. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 42:11–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohtsuji H, Ikeda M (1970) A rapid colorimetric method for the determination of phenylglyoxylic and mandelic acids. Its application to the urinalysis of workers exposed to styrene vapour. Br J Ind Med 27:150–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohtsuji H, Ikeda M (1971) The metabolism of styrene in the rat and stimulatory effect of phenobarbital. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 18:321–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Ponomarkov V, Tomatis L (1978) Effects of long-term oral administration of styrene to mice and rats. Scand J Work Environ Health 4 (Suppl 2):127–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Rainsford SG, Lloyd Davis TA (1965) Urinary excretion of phenol by men exposed to vapour of benzene. A screening test. Br J Ind Med 22:21–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Saalwaechter AT, McCammon CS, Jr, Roper CP, Carlberg KS (1977) Performance testing of the NIOSH charcoal tube for the determination of air concentrations of organic vapors. Am Ind Hyg Ass J 38:478–486

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumacher RL, Breysee PA, Carlyon WR, Hibbard RP, Kleinman GD (1981) Styrene exposure in the fiberglass fabrication industry in Washington State. Am Ind Hyg Ass J 42:143–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Tossavainen A (1978) Styrene use and occupational exposure in the plastics industry. Scand J Work Environ Health 4 (Suppl 2):7–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe T, Endo A, Sato K, Ohtsuki T, Miyasaka M, Koizumi A, Ikeda M (1981) Mutagenic potential of styrene in man. Ind Health 19:37–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson HK, Cocker J, Purnell CJ, Brown RH, Gompertz D (1979) The time course of mandelic and phenylglyoxylic acid excretion in workers exposed to styrene under model conditions. Br J Ind Med 36:235–237

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

This work was supported in part by a grant-in-aid for Co-operative Research for 1981-2 (No.56370016) from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture of the Government of Japan

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ikeda, M., Koizumi, A., Miyasaka, M. et al. Styrene exposure and biologic monitoring in FRP boat production plants. Int. Arch Occup Environ Heath 49, 325–339 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377941

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377941

Key words

Navigation