Estimating Occupational Beryllium Exposure from Compliance Monitoring Data

ABSTRACT

Occupational exposure to beryllium is widespread and is a health risk. The objectives of this study were to develop plausible models to estimate occupational airborne beryllium exposure. Compliance monitoring data were obtained from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 12,148 personal measurements of beryllium exposure from 1979 to 2005. Industry codes were maintained as reported or collapsed based on the number of measurements per cell of a job-exposure matrix (JEM). Probability of exposure was predicted based on year, industry, job, and sampling duration. In these models, probability of exposure decreased over time, was highest in full-shift personal samples, and varied with industry and job. The probability of exposure was calculated using 6 JEMs, each providing similar rankings of the likelihood of non-negligible exposure to beryllium. These statistical models, with expert appraisal, are suitable for the assessment of the probability of elevated occupational exposure to beryllium.

KEYWORDS:

• epidemiology
• job-exposure matrix
• statistical exposure model

Acknowledgments

Igor Burstyn was supported by the New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Population Health Investigator Award from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. Drs Nicola M. Cherry and Jeremy Beach provided valuable comments on the early draft of the manuscript. Mr Bruce Beveridge of US OSHA extracted the data and was most helpful in processing the data request from the investigators under the Freedom of Information Act. Dr Paul K. Henneberger of NISOH provided invaluable advice on the use of OSHA IMIS beryllium data. Dr Gregory Day commented on the draft of the manuscript. The conclusions reached in this report are those of the authors alone and do not reflect the opinions of either US OSHA or NIOSH, or any of the funding agencies.