OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE OF AUTOMOBILE MECHANICS AND NONAUTOMOTIVE WORKERS TO AIRBORNE MANGANESE ARISING FROM THE COMBUSTIONOF METHYLCYCLOPENTADIENYL MANGANESE TRICARBONYL (MMT)

Inhalation exposure to manganese (Mn) was measured for a group of gara ge mechanics and a control group of nonautomotive workers. The airborn e Mn exposure of 35 garage mechanics suspected of being relatively hig hly exposed to Mn from MMT was measured at the workplace over a one-we ek period. It also was measured for 30 nonautomotive workers at the Un iversity of Montreal. The environmental exposure also was measured for the two groups, as was the exposure to three other metals, aluminum ( Al), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn). At work the mechanics were exposed to M n concentrations varying from 0.010 to 6.673 mu g m(-3) with a mean of 0.45 mu g m(-3), while the control group was exposed to concentration s varying from 0.011 to 1.862 mu g m(-3) with a mean of 0.04 mu g m(-3 ). The mean environmental exposure for the two groups was similar to t he Mn concentrations gathered in Montreal in 1992. Workplace concentra tions of Al, Fe, and Zn also were higher for the garage mechanics. The results suggest that less than 10% of the Mn exposure of the garage m echanics was due to MMT. The levels of the metals measured were below the established limits for industrial and even environmental exposure.