Air monitoring and assessment of occupational exposure to peracetic acid in a hospital environment.
A new automated method based upon solid phase micro-extraction (SPME)/fast gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed for the quantitative determination of airborne peracetic acid (PAA). The method is suitable for the quick assessment of brief acute exposure as well as for long-term environmental monitoring of PAA and can assist in improving safety and environmental quality in workplaces where disinfectants are used. During a monitoring campaign in the Regional Hospital of Florence, Italy, the 8-h average air concentration of PAA was 1/10 of the threshold limit value of time weighted average in 87% of the clinical units tested. However, the application of the new SPME method showed that short-term exposure to PAA could be relatively elevated in some hospital units with poor ventilation, allowing prompt intervention in order to reduce worker exposure to this potentially toxic compound.
Pacenti
Marco
M
Occupational Health Division, Department of Public Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. marco.pacenti@unifi.it
Dugheri
Stefano
S
Boccalon
Pierpaolo
P
Arcangeli
Giulio
G
Dolara
Piero
P
Cupelli
Vincenzo
V
D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D016272:Occupational Health; D010463:Peracetic Acid / Q000032:analysis*; D052617:Solid Phase Microextraction
D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D010463:Peracetic Acid