Health Risk Assessment of Petrol Station Workers in the Inner City of Bangkok, Thailand, to the Exposure to BTEX and Carbonyl Compounds by Inhalation

ABSTRACT

The occupational health risk of petrol station workers from exposure to BTEX and carbonyl compounds via inhalation was estimated in the inner city of Bangkok. Personal sampling was performed within the workers’ breathing zone using 2,4 dinitrophenylhydrazine cartridges and charcoal glass tubes connected to a personal air pump during eight working hours at six petrol stations. BTEX and carbonyl compounds were quantitatively analyzed by GC/FID and HPLC/UV, respectively. Of all detectable BTEX and carbonyl compounds, the levels of the four most prevalent compounds (benzene, ethylbenzene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde) were used to assess the lifetime cancer risk and 95% confidence interval of the risk levels were found to be totally higher than acceptable criteria for benzene (1.82 × 10^–4–2.50 × 10^–4), formaldehyde (7.81 × 10^–6–1.04 × 10^–5), ethylbenzene (4.11 × 10^–6–5.52 × 10^–6), and acetaldehyde (1.39 × 10^–6–2.45 × 10^–6). Thus, petrol station workers in the inner city of Bangkok have a potentially high cancer risk through inhalation exposure. With respect to the noncarcinogenic agents, toluene, m,p-xylene, o-xylene, and propionaldehyde, all non-cancer health risk were within hazard quotients of 1 and of acceptable risk.

Key Words:

• BTEX
• carbonyl compounds
• petrol station workers
• inhalation exposure
• risk assessment.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The equipment and instruments used in this study were supported by the Environmental Research Training Center (ERTC) and the Center of Excellence for Environmental and Hazardous Waste Management, Chulalongkorn University. The funding was partially supported by The 90th Anniversary of Chulalongkorn University Fund (Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund), by the Thai Fogarty ITREOH Center (National Institute of Health, Fogarty International No. D43-TW007849 NIH FIC) and by the College of Public Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University. This study was also partially funded by the Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, for the master degree student conference grant. The authors give their sincere thanks to the petrol station workers and the owners.