title: Finnish quality assurance programme for biological monitoring of organic solvents.
abstract: The FIOH quality assurance programme for organic solvents and their metabolites consists of analyses for 2,5-hexadione, phenol, mandelic acid, methylenedianiline, methylhippuric acid, trans,trans-muconic acid and trichloroacetic acid in urine, and creatinine and relative density for standardisation. Four times a year two levels of spiked urine or urine specimens collected from occupationally exposed workers are distributed to the participants in 22 countries. RSD and recovery were studied during 1997-2000. Average RSDs of all participants varied between 23 and 56% and were clearly dependent on the analytical method used and the concentration level of the samples. Since 1997 the target values have been determined in reference laboratories for five of the analytes. Lower RSDs (9-21%) and good recoveries were obtained for all analytes in these laboratories, indicating that good performance can be achieved even in the complex analyses performed in biological monitoring of exposure to industrial chemicals.
authors.affiliation: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Department of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology, Biomonitoring Laboratory, Topeliuksenkatu 41 a A, FIN-00250 Helsinki, Finland. fiohquality@occuphealth.fi
authors.forename: Sinikka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Valkonen
authors.forename: Arja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kallio
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000592:standards*; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis*; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012997:Solvents / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012997:Solvents