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Annals of Occupational Hygiene Advance Access originally published online on June 11, 2008
Annals of Occupational Hygiene 2008 52(5):337-349; doi:10.1093/annhyg/men020
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Trends in Occupational Exposure to Styrene in the European Glass Fibre-Reinforced Plastics Industry

J. G. M. Van Rooij1,*, A. Kasper2, G. Triebig3, P. Werner3, F. J. Jongeneelen1 and H. Kromhout4

1 IndusTox Consult, P.O. Box 31070, Nijmegen 6503 CB, the Netherlands
2 Quantor BV, Zwolle Kerkweg 11 8024 AM, the Netherlands
3 Institute and Outpatient Clinic for Occupational and Social Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Vossstraβe 2 D-69115, Heidelberg, Germany
4 Environmental Epidemiology Division, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80176, Utrecht, 3508 TD, the Netherlands

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +31-24-3528842; fax: +31-24-3540090; e-mail: joost.vanrooij{at}industox.nl

Aim: This study presents temporal trends of styrene exposure for workers in the European glass fibre-reinforced plastics (GRP) industry during the period 1966–2002.

Methods: Data of personal styrene exposure measurements were retrieved from reports, databases and peer-reviewed papers. Only sources with descriptive statistics of personal measurements were accepted. The styrene exposure data cover personal air samples and biological monitoring data, that is, urinary styrene metabolites (mandelic acid and/or phenylglyoxylic acid) and styrene in blood. Means of series of measurements were categorized by year, country, production process, job and sampling strategy. Linear mixed models were used to identify temporal trends and factors affecting exposure levels.

Results: Personal exposure measurements were available from 60 reports providing data on 24145 1–8-h time-weighted average shift personal air samples. Available data of biological exposure indicators included measurements of mandelic acid in post-shift urine (6361 urine samples being analysed). Trend analyses of the available styrene exposure data showed that the average styrene concentration in the breathing zone of open-mould workers in the European GRP industry has decreased on average by 5.3% per year during the period 1966–1990 and by only 0.4% annually in the period after 1990. The highest exposures were measured in Southern Europe and the lowest exposures in Northern Europe with Central Europe in between. Biological indicators of styrene (mandelic acid in post-shift urine) showed a somewhat steeper decline (8.9%), most likely because urine samples were collected in companies that showed a stronger decrease of styrene exposure in air than GRP companies where no biological measurements were carried out.

Keywords: air monitoring • biological monitoring • European GRP industry • linear mixed model analysis • mandelic acid (MA) • occupational exposure • phenylglyoxylic acid (PGA) • Styrene (CAS 100-42-5) • temporal trends

Received March 27, 2007; in final form March 11, 2008


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