EXPOSURE OF TANKER DRIVERS TO GASOLINE AND SOME OF ITS COMPONENTS

The purpose of this study was to measure the exposure of road tanker d rivers at work to gasoline and some of its components. The occupationa l hygiene measurements were made in two depots (one in northern Finlan d and the other in southern Finland) and in 11 service stations of a F innish oil company during the loading and delivery of road tankers. Of the 21 measurements made, four were taken during top submerged loadin g of the road tankers and six during bottom loading at the depot. Elev en measurements were made during delivery at service stations. The dur ation of measurements varied from 10 to 44 min. The exposure of road t anker drivers to C-3-C-11 hydrocarbons of gasoline was under 300 mg m( -3) during bottom loading measurements and during top loading exceeded 300 mg m(-3) two measurements (50%). During delivery at service stati ons the exposure to C-3-C-11 hydrocarbons of gasoline exceeded 300 mg m(-3) in four measurements (36%). The exposure of road tanker drivers during delivery depended mainly on the distance between working area a nd the emission point of discharging vapours from the tank, vents and wind direction. The mean exposures of road tanker drivers to benzene d uring loading and delivery were 1.1-18 mg m(-3) in various situations, The mean exposures to n-hexane, to toluene and to xylene were 0.7-6.0 , 1.4-11 and 0.8-4 mg m(-3), respectively. The exposures to methyl-ter t-butyl ether were between 13 and 91 mg m(-3). All measurements were m ade during the summer. However, the temperature varied between 4 and 2 2 degrees C.