Risk in cleaning: chemical and physical exposure

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Abstract

Cleaning is a large enterprise involving a large fraction of the workforce worldwide. A broad spectrum of cleaning agents has been developed to facilitate dust and dirt removal, for disinfection and surface maintenance. The cleaning agents are used in large quantities throughout the world. Although a complex pattern of exposure to cleaning agents and resulting health problems, such as allergies and asthma, are reported among cleaners, only a few surveys of this type of product have been performed. This paper gives a broad introduction to cleaning agents and the impact of cleaning on cleaners, occupants of indoor environments, and the quality of cleaning. Cleaning agents are usually grouped into different product categories according to their technical functions and the purpose of their use (e.g. disinfectants and surface care products). The paper also indicates the adverse health and comfort effects associated with the use of these agents in connection with the cleaning process. The paper identifies disinfectants as the most hazardous group of cleaning agents. Cleaning agents contain evaporative and non-evaporative substances. The major toxicologically significant constituents of the former are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), defined as substances with boiling points in the range of 0°C to about 400°C. Although laboratory emission testing has shown many VOCs with quite different time-concentration profiles, few field studies have been carried out measuring the exposure of cleaners. However, both field studies and emission testing indicate that the use of cleaning agents results in a temporal increase in the overall VOC level. This increase may occur during the cleaning process and thus it can enhance the probability of increased short-term exposure of the cleaners. However, the increased levels can also be present after the cleaning and result in an overall increased VOC level that can possibly affect the indoor air quality (IAQ) perceived by occupants. The variety and duration of the emissions depend inter alia on the use of fragrances and high boiling VOCs. Some building materials appear to increase their VOC emission through wet cleaning and thus may affect the IAQ. Particles and dirt contain a great variety of both volatile and non-volatile substances, including allergens. While the volatile fraction can consist of more than 200 different VOCs including formaldehyde, the non-volatile fraction can contain considerable amounts (>0.5%) of fatty acid salts and tensides (e.g. linear alkyl benzene sulphonates). The level of these substances can be high immediately after the cleaning process, but few studies have been conducted concerning this problem. The substances partly originate from the use of cleaning agents. Both types are suspected to be airway irritants. Cleaning activities generate dust, mostly by resuspension, but other occupant activities may also resuspend dust over longer periods of time. Personal sampling of VOCs and airborne dust gives higher results than stationary sampling. International bodies have proposed air sampling strategies. A variety of field sampling techniques for VOC and surface particle sampling is listed.

Section snippets

General introduction

The indoor environment is cleaned to maintain an acceptable level of perceived cleanliness, to prevent surface degradation, to control potential risk of infection from microorganisms, and to control dust exposure in general. Dust on floors and other surfaces contains minerals, metals, fibres from textiles, paper, and insulation material, particles from tobacco smoke, including polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs), organic compounds, and materials from biological sources such as Gram-negative

Sampling methods for VOCs

If no specific symptom-related VOCs can be selected, the sampling and analysis of VOCs become rather complicated because cleaning agents can contain many different volatile substances. Due to the complexity, the sampling should follow a series of common steps, as described recently (Wolkoff, 1995).

The selection of the best sampling method depends on the nature of the potential VOCs of interest, environmental conditions, and the sampling objective. The method of choice for analyzing VOCs depends

Personal versus stationary sampling

Personal sampling of dust is usually done by placing a filter in the person's breathing zone. The airflow through the filter is ∼2 l/min and is supplied by a small pump.

The convective plume around the body (Clark and Cox, 1973) carries dust originating from the body (skin scales, textile fibres, bacteria, etc.) as well as dust resuspended in the breathing-zone by the person's activity. The concentration, as determined by a stationary sampler, is an underestimation due to the rapid dilution

Surface sampling techniques

Table 10 (Burdett, 1988) lists a large variety of field techniques for surface sampling. The choice of method depends on the objective. The test surface technique (Anzai and Kikuchi, 1978) uses a small piece of the surface material (e.g. a patch of a carpet, placed at several positions) for collecting samples. This technique does not interfere with the dust accumulation process and thus comes close to the actual conditions. The test surface can be removed and the dust reclaimed, or redispersion

Research needs

The study showed that no scientific report deals systematically with the exposure of cleaners and the process of cleaning. Likewise, limited data are available on the impact of cleaning on occupants. As a result of the present work and recommendations made by others (Mølhave et al., 1994; Clean cleaning, 1995; Renström et al., 1996), the following research needs have been identified.

  • Methodology for workplace assessment, including guidelines for interpreting the role of work load in the uptake

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Commission, the BIOMED 2 Programme `Risk in Cleaning 1996–1998' (Convenor: Prof. D. Krüger, Fachhochschule Hamburg). We thank Mrs A. Krag for assistance in the early stage of this study.

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