Industry-wide review of potential worker exposure to 1,3-butadiene during chemical manufacturing and processing as a reactant

Abstract

Among the first 20 high-priority chemical substances selected by USEPA to undergo risk evaluation as part of the Toxic Substances Control Act, as amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21^st Century Act of 2016 is 1,3-butadiene (1,3-BD). Because much of the literature related to occupational exposure to 1,3-BD is associated with the use of the substance in synthetic rubber production and few data have been published for exposures to 1,3-BD manufacturing workers, existing industrial hygiene data collected at facilities where the substance is manufactured or processed as a reactant were compiled and analyzed. The dataset was comprised of personal air samples collected between 2010 and 2019 at facilities located throughout the United States and was compiled into a single database using a uniform data collection template. Data designated by the companies as full-shift were stratified by job group and one of three operational conditions of the workplace: routine, turnaround, and non-routine. Data designated by the companies as short-term and task-level were stratified by task description, sample duration, and operational condition. The final aggregated database contained a total of 5,676 full-shift personal samples. Mean concentrations of 1,3-BD for the job groups ranged from 0.012 ppm to 0.16 ppm. High-end estimates of 1,3-BD air concentrations for the job groups under routine operations ranged from 0.014 ppm to 0.23 ppm. The aggregated database also included 1,063 short-term and task-level personal samples. For short-term samples (< =15 min), mean concentrations ranged from 0.49 ppm to 3.9 ppm, with the highest concentrations observed for the cleaning and maintaining equipment tasks. For task samples with durations greater than 15 min, mean concentrations ranged from 0.49 to 3.6 ppm, with the highest concentrations observed for the unloading and loading task. In addition to the personal air sampling records, information on the use of PPE during various tasks was compiled and analyzed. This data set provides robust quantitative air concentration data and exposure control information for which occupational exposures to 1,3-BD in the Manufacturing and Processing as a Reactant condition of use can be assessed.

Keywords:

• 1,3-butadiene
• manufacturing
• risk
• risk evaluation
• worker

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank the Consortium members for providing the data used in this analysis and for their assistance during the QA/QC review of the data set.

Disclosure statement

The American Chemistry Council’s 1,3-Butadiene TSCA Risk Evaluation Consortium is comprised of companies that manufacture or process 1,3-butadiene (1,3-BD) and was formed to develop relevant data to support USEPA’s risk evaluation of 1,3-butadiene. The Consortium members are prevented from seeing each other’s data and as such, authors J.P., L.M., and K.F. were retained by the consortium to serve in an independent third-party role to compile the individual company industrial hygiene datasets and provide an analysis of the data across the Manufacturing and Processing as a Reactant conditions of use.

Additional information

Funding

The data analysis and preparation of this manuscript were funded by the Consortium.