EXPOSURES WHILE APPLYING COMMERCIAL DISINFECTANTS

Measurements were made on 40 applicators applying chemical disinfectan ts to floors, walls, other hard surfaces, or carpeting by high-pressur e spray, low-pressure spray, mopping, wiping, or aerosol spray. Inhala tion exposure was assessed with air samples. Clothing and skin deposit ion was assessed with dermal gauze dosimeters attached both outside ap plicators' work clothing and inside their clothing against their skin. As is typical of agricultural pesticide applications, the airborne ro ute of exposure was very low, usually below the chemical limit of dete ction. The primary route of exposure and dosing was to the skin. The n ormal work clothing worn by applicators consistently reduced clothing deposition to lower values reaching the skin. The effects of chemical detection limits and short use durations caused the analyte on many in dividual dosimeters to be below the method detection limit. Mean measu red total dose of the active ingredient onto the skin (ranging from 0. 1 to 26 mg per task) was converted to equivalent dose of the applied m ixture (ranging from 0.1 to 2.7 g) to adjust for widely varying disinf ectant concentrations. A discussion is also presented on the serious l imitations of applying the assumption that undetectable samples are '' one-half the detection limit'' to a study of this nature where results are the sum of multiple measurements.