Assessing the risk to firefighters from chemical vapors and gases during vehicle fire suppression
Assessing the risk to firefighters from chemical vapors and gases during vehicle fire suppression
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DOI：
10.1039/c0em00591f
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发表时间：
2011-03-01
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Evans, Douglas E.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Fent, Kenneth W.;Evans, Douglas E.
尽管车辆火灾频繁发生，但很少有研究调查消防员在车辆灭火过程中潜在的吸入暴露。在本文中，我们提出了消防员的健康风险的评估，从车辆灭火，考虑到气体和蒸汽的混合物可能在这些火灾中被发现。Summa罐用于收集单个车辆的发动机和机舱火灾排放，并分析了75种挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）。在扑灭三起汽车火灾期间，测量了消防员的呼吸区浓度（BZCs）芳香烃、醛类、异氰酸酯和一氧化碳。Summa罐和BZC数据被用来建立一个简单的模型，用于预测消防员呼吸区未测量到的化合物的BZC。危害商（HQs）的计算方法是将预测和测量的BZCs除以最保守的短期暴露限值（STELs）或上限限值。危害指数（HIs）是通过添加HQs来确定的，以靶器官分组的化合物对急性健康的影响。任何高于统一的HIs都代表着不可接受的风险。根据这种混合分析，研究人群暴露分布的估计第95（th）百分位数代表呼吸道和眼睛可接受风险水平的9.2倍。此外，已知或合理预期为人类致癌物的化学物质占这些高致癌物的45%。虽然最低水平通常不是基于致癌性，但保持低于最低水平的暴露可以保护个人免受长期短期接触致癌物可能造成的生物压力。尽管车辆火灾被迅速扑灭（< 10分钟），但该评估表明，消防员在车辆灭火过程中有可能过度暴露于急性毒素，因此在车辆火灾响应过程中应始终佩戴自给式呼吸器。
Despite the frequent occurrence of vehicle fires, very few studies investigating firefighters' potential inhalation exposures during vehicle fire suppression have been conducted. In this paper, we present an assessment of firefighters' health risk from vehicle fire suppression that accounts for the mixture of gases and vapors likely to be found in these fires. Summa canisters were used to collect emissions from the engine and cabin fires of a single vehicle and were analyzed for 75 volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Firefighters' breathing zone concentrations (BZCs) of aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, isocyanates, and carbon monoxide were measured during the suppression of three vehicle fires. The Summa canister and BZC data were used to develop a simple model for predicting BZCs for the compounds that were not measured in the firefighters' breathing zones. Hazard quotients (HQs) were calculated by dividing the predicted and measured BZCs by the most conservative short-term exposure limits (STELs) or ceiling limits. Hazard indices (HIs) were determined by adding HQs for compounds grouped by the target organ for acute health effects. Any HIs above unity represented unacceptable risks. According to this mixture analysis, the estimated 95(th) percentile of the exposure distribution for the study population represents >= 9.2 times the acceptable level of risk to the respiratory tract and eyes. Furthermore, chemicals known or reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens contributed to > 45% of these HIs. While STELs are not usually based on carcinogenicity, maintaining exposures below STELs may protect individuals from the biological stress that could result from short-term exposures to carcinogens over time. Although vehicle fires are suppressed quickly (< 10 min), this assessment suggests that firefighters have the potential to be overexposed to acute toxins during vehicle fire suppression and should therefore wear self-contained breathing apparatus at all times during vehicle fire response.