Gasoline Vapor Exposures. Part I. Characterization of Workplace Exposures

Monitoring surveys of gasoline vapor exposures were conducted on truck drivers and terminal operators from five terminal loading facilities, on dockmen and seamen at two tanker/barge loading facilities, and on attendants at a single expressway service plaza. Results revealed wide variations in total hydrocarbon exposures for each location, with overall 8-hr time-weighted averaged (TWA®) geometric means of 5.7 mg/m3 (1.4 ppm) for the terminals, and 4.0 mg/m3 (1.0 ppm) for the service plaza, respectively. The exposures ranged from 0.8 to 120.8 mg/m3 (0.2–30.1 ppm) for the terminals, and from 1.1 to 130.3 mg/m3 (0.3–32.5 ppm) for the service plaza. For the terminals, exposures were not significantly different regardless of loading method or the presence or absence of vapor recovery systems. Comprehensive chemical analyses of terminal employee exposure samples revealed that the C4 and C5 hydrocarbon components constituted 74.8 ± 9.2% of the total exposure sample on a µg/sample basis. The C6, C7, and component...