Application of Personal Exposure Monitors (PEMs) in a Human Health Risk Assessment

摘要

A human health risk assessment was completed to determine if emissions from a landfill were significantly impacting on worker health in a nearby office building. Personal exposure monitors (PEMs) were used to measure 24 hour time-weighted average concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes (BTEX) in and around the office building. PEMs were also used to assess individual exposure over the same time frame. The indoor and outdoor measures were used to identify gradients of BTEX concentration in various worker microenvironments. Individual measures were taken as an indication of average airborne exposure at each receptor. All data was used to construct an understanding of BTEX in the worker environment and to assess health risks. A discussion is provided which interprets the case study results and summarizes the benefits of this approach in a human health risk assessment framework.