Benzene and total hydrocarbons exposures in the downstream petroleum industries

A review of studies, including both articles published in peer reviewed jou rnals and reports that were not peer reviewed, regarding occupational expos ure to benzene and total hydrocarbons in the downstream petroleum industry operations was performed. The objective was to provide a broad estimate of exposures by compiling exposure data according to the following categories: refinery, pipeline, marine, rail, bulk terminals and trucks, service stati ons, underground storage tanks, tank cleaning, and site remediations. The d ata in each category was divided into personal occupational long-term and s hort-term samples, The summarized data offers valuable assistance to hygien ists by providing them with an estimate and range of exposures. The traditi onal 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) exposure and the 40-hour workweek d o not generally coincide with exposure periods applicable to workers in mar ine, pipeline, railcar, and trucking operations. They are more comparable w ith short-term exposure or task-based exposure assessments. The marine sect or has a large number of high exposures. Although relatively few workers ar e exposed, their exposures to benzene and total hydrocarbons are sometimes an order of magnitude higher than the respective exposure limits. It is rec ommended that in the future, it would be preferable to do more task-based e xposure assessments and fewer traditional TWA long-term exposure assessment s within the various sectors of the downstream petroleum industry.