Titre du document / Document title

Benzene and total hydrocarbon exposures in the upstream petroleum oil and gas industry

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

VERMA D. K. ⁽¹⁾ ; JOHNSON D. M. ⁽¹⁾ ; MCLEAN J. D. ⁽²⁾ ;

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

⁽¹⁾ Occupational and Environmental Health Laboratory, McMaster University, 1200 Main St. West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8N 3Z5, ETATS-UNIS
⁽²⁾ Shell Canada Ltd., 400-4th We. S.W., Calgary, Alberta, T2F 2H5, CANADA

Résumé / Abstract

Occupational exposures to benzene and total hydrocarbons (THC) in the Canadian upstream petroleum industry are described in this article. A total of 1547 air samples taken by 5 oil companies in various sectors (i.e., conventional oil/gas, conventional gas, heavy oil processing, drilling and pipelines) were evaluated and summarized. The data includes personal long- and short-term samples and area long-term samples. The percentage of samples over the occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 3.2 mg/m³ or one part per million for benzene, for personal long-term samples ranges from 0 to 0.7% in the different sectors, and area long-term samples range from 0 to 13%, For short-term personal samples, the exceedance for benzene is at 5% with respect to the OEL of 16 mg/m³or five parts per milfion in the conventional gas sector and none in the remaining sectors. THC levels were not available for all sectors and had limited data points in others. The percentage exceedance of the OEL of 280 mg/m³ or 100 parts per million for THC as gasoline ranged from 0 to 2.6% for personal long-term samples It is recommended that certain operations such as glycol dehydrators be carefully monitored and that a task-based monitoring program be included along with the traditional long- and short-term personal exposure sampling.

Revue / Journal Title

American Industrial Hygiene Association journal   ISSN 0002-8894   CODEN AIHAAP 

Source / Source

2000, vol. 61, n^o2, pp. 255-263 (18 ref.)

Langue / Language

Anglais

Editeur / Publisher

American Industrial Hygiene Association, Fairfax, VA, ETATS-UNIS  (1958-1999) (Revue)

Mots-clés anglais / English Keywords

Oil industry ; Petrochemical industry ; Occupational exposure ; Occupational medicine ; Human ; Benzene ; Hydrocarbon ; Canada ; Ambient air concentration ; Work place ; Chemical analysis ; Quantitative analysis ; North America ; America ;

Mots-clés français / French Keywords

Industrie pétrolière ; Industrie pétrochimique ; Exposition professionnelle ; Médecine travail ; Homme ; Benzène ; Hydrocarbure ; Canada ; Teneur air ambiant ; Lieu travail ; Analyse chimique ; Analyse quantitative ; Amérique du Nord ; Amérique ;

Mots-clés espagnols / Spanish Keywords

Industria petrolera ; Industria petroquímica ; Exposición profesional ; Medicina ocupacional ; Hombre ; Benceno ; Hidrocarburo ; Canada ; Contenido aire ambiental ; Lugar trabajo ; Análisis químico ; Análisis cuantitativo ; America del norte ; America ;

Localisation / Location

INIST-CNRS, Cote INIST : 11437, 35400008235401.0110