Differences in Fine Particle Exposure and Estimated Pulmonary Ventilation Rate with Respect to Work Tasks of Wildland Firefighters at Prescribed Burns: A Repeated Measures Study.
Wildland firefighters (WLFFs) are exposed to a mixture of chemicals found in wildland fire smoke and emissions from nonwildland-fuel smoke sources such as diesel. We investigated compositional differences in exposure to particulate matter and explored differences in ventilation rate and potential in...
| Published in: | Annals of Work Exposures & Health Vol. 66; no. 8; pp. 985 - 998 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press / USA
Oct2022
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=159695751&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 159695751 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 23987308 KJ1E jtl: Annals of Work Exposures & Health issn: 23987308 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Oct2022 vid: 66 iid: 8 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 159695751 159695751 159695751 10.1093/annweh/wxac037 159695751 ppf: 985 ppct: 13 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Differences in Fine Particle Exposure and Estimated Pulmonary Ventilation Rate with Respect to Work Tasks of Wildland Firefighters at Prescribed Burns: A Repeated Measures Study. aug: au: Adetona, Anna M Adetona, Olorunfemi Chartier, Ryan T Paulsen, Michael H Simpson, Christopher D Rathbun, Stephen L Naeher, Luke P affil: Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia , Athens, GA , USA sug: subj: Respiratory Rate Evaluation Occupational Exposure Adverse Effects Particulate Matter Adverse Effects Task Performance and Analysis Work Environment Firefighters Smoke Adverse Effects Burns Human Repeated Measures Monitoring, Physiologic Carbon Monoxide Analysis Accelerometry Biological Markers Blood United States Descriptive Statistics Dose-Response Relationship ab: Wildland firefighters (WLFFs) are exposed to a mixture of chemicals found in wildland fire smoke and emissions from nonwildland-fuel smoke sources such as diesel. We investigated compositional differences in exposure to particulate matter and explored differences in ventilation rate and potential inhaled dose relative to the work tasks of WLFFs. Repeated measures on ten professional and two volunteer firefighters were collected on prescribed burn and nonburn days. Personal monitoring consisted of real-time and gravimetric fine particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), and accelerometer measurements to estimate ventilation rate and potential dose of PM2.5. The fine particulate matter was analyzed for levoglucosan (LG) and light absorbing carbon as a surrogate for black carbon (BC). Breathing zone personal exposure concentrations of PM2.5, LG, BC, and CO were higher on burn days (P < 0.05). Differences in exposure concentrations were observed between burn day tasks (P < 0.05) with firefighters managing fire boundaries (holders) being exposed to higher CO and LG concentrations and less BC concentrations than those conducting lighting (lighters). While no statistical difference in PM2.5 exposure measures was observed between the two tasks, holders in the study tended to be exposed to higher PM2.5 concentrations (~1.4×), while lighters tended to have more inhaled amounts of PM2.5 (~1.3×). Our findings demonstrate possible diversity in the sources of particulate matter exposure at the fireline and suggest the potential importance of using dose as a metric of inhalation exposure in occupational or other settings. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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