科研之友
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摘要
Purpose of the study. Risk assessment may seem to be challenging in case of indoor air pollution at the workplace. As a matter of fact, it can be easily and rapidly performed, when a systematic multi-step procedure is followed, by an evaluation group bringing together representatives of all parties (workers concerned, head of the firm, occupational physician, health and safety manager ... ), with the help of external experts, when necessary. This is illustrated by a case study.
Objective. Retrospective risk assessment of laboratory workers' exposure, resulting from a faulty ventilation device. The pollution was detected only 3 years after it began, when a substance with a low olfactory detection threshold was used. As some of the substances implicated during the polluting period were of high toxicity, this discovery generated social tensions in the firm.
Method. With the collaboration of all implicated parties, a multi-step risk assessment procedure was carried out: identification of hazards; choice of pollution markers; identification of their toxic effects, especially of their critical effects; characterization of the dose-effect relationship for these critical effects and identification of toxicological reference values; exposure evaluation, and finally risk characterization through the comparison of exposure measurement results to reference values.
Results. In the present case, the selected markers were acetone, ethyl acrylate, acrylamide and chloroform. For each substance, the reference values selected were olfactive threshold, French occupational reference value, and a reference value derived from an environmental reference level with temporal adjustment. For cumulative exposure evaluation, a worst case scenario was applied. Finally, the evaluation procedure showed no preoccupying health risks. Ethyl acrylate air concentrations were above the olfactive threshold, which explained discomfort. Globally, the evaluation procedure (including the diffusion of its results) took less than 4 months. As much as its reassuring results, the rapid implementation of the evaluation procedure together with its collaborative execution allowed the complete resolution of the social conflicts in the firm.
Discussion/Conclusion. In this illustrative case, a collaborative evaluation could be rapidly implemented. It may be used as a model of what could be done in such situations of indoor air pollution at the workplace.
- 出版日期2015-6
