| Approximately 60,000 automotive refinishing facilities, employing some 210,000 technicians, and students (aged 14 and older) enrolled at 1,400 vocational technical schools are engaged in vehicle repair activities in the U.S. alone. At these facilities, workers and students may be exposed to paint or isocyanate aerosols, welding fumes and gases, metal particulates, silica or nuisance dusts, and chemical vapors. The research presented in this dissertation focuses on the characterization of potential health risks associated metal particulates, fugitive dusts and methylene chloride vapors generated during paint removal operations.; Fifteen samples of sanding dust, representing nearly 200 vehicles, were obtained from six automotive refinishing facilities and one vocational technical high school. Lead, arsenic, chromium, manganese and nickel were present in the sanding dust of every facility tested; lead concentrations ranged from 180 to 7,300 mg Pb/kg dust, while hexavalent chromium was detected in two vocational school paint dust samples at concentrations of 54 and 710 mg/kg. Metals found in the sanding dust were also present on the hands and work clothes of technicians who sanded on paint without ventilated equipment. A screening of 21 workers at two facilities showed that four non-exposed workers had mean blood lead (PbB) levels at the U.S. geometric mean of 2.8 ug/dL, while the mean PbB concentration for eight repair technicians, who did not wear or were inconsistent in their use of personal protective equipment, was 19 ug/dL (range 9 to 38 ug/dL). Personal air monitoring for solvent vapors showed that workers who engaged in chemical paint stripping also risked exposure to elevated levels of the regulated carcinogen methylene chloride. Taken together, these findings suggest that an undefined number of professional technicians and vocational high school students may be at increased risk of adverse reproductive and/or other systemic effects. Technology-based intervention strategies and existing regulatory approaches were examined for their effect on identified workplace hazards and environmental health risks. In conjunction with targeted regulatory initiatives, integrated pollution prevention and occupational health practices at the facility level appear to hold the most promise for reducing chemical exposures and improving the health of both the worker and the public. |
