Measurements of Personal VOC Exposures based on Exposure Environments :

Identification of Specific Exposure Environments and Estimation of Reduction Effects

Abstract

Environment-dependent measurements of personal VOC exposures were conducted by 14 subjects for one day by changing sampler for each microenvironment, i.e. commuting, office and home. Among 11 VOCs analyzed, benzene, p-dichlorobenzene and toluene showed particularly high concentration ratios to the standard and/or guideline values set by the Japanese ministries. The results indicated the heavily-traveled arterial streets were suspected as the major sources of benzene exposures during commuting while the moth repellents etc. were suspected to increase p-dichlorobenzene exposure at home for some subjects. Meantime, the exposure sources of toluene, which generally has a variety of source origins, could be specified by this method. In this study, the ratios of specific exposure were also calculated. By such information, the subjects can efficiently reduce their exposures to VOCs by avoiding and/or improving the polluted microenvironments.