Respiratory and dermal exposure to organophosphorus flame retardants and tetrabromobisphenol A at five work environments.

Organophosphorus compounds (OPs) and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) are widely utilized as flame retardants (FRs) in plastics, textiles, rubbers, and building materials. Eight OPs and TBBPA were quantified by GC/MS from air samples collected from a furniture workshop, a circuit board factory, two electronics dismantling facilities, a computer classroom, and offices and social premises. In addition, dermal exposure was assessed with patch and hand wash samples at some workplaces. Triphenyl phosphate, tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, and tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate were typical contaminants of the workplaces, whereas TBBPA, tricresyl phosphate, tri-n-butyl phosphate, and tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate were rather site-specific. The highest geometric mean of totalFRs in the air samples was measured in personal samples at the electronics dismantling facilities (2.9 and 3.8 μg/m3), whereas the stationary sample results from the other environments ranged between 90 and 720 ng/m3. Stationary samplings underesti...