Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Journal of Industrial Medicine logoLink to British Journal of Industrial Medicine
. 1991 Aug;48(8):531–537. doi: 10.1136/oem.48.8.531

Retrospective cohort mortality study of workers at an aircraft maintenance facility. II. Exposures and their assessment.

P A Stewart 1, J S Lee 1, D E Marano 1, R Spirtas 1, C D Forbes 1, A Blair 1
PMCID: PMC1035414  PMID: 1878309

Abstract

Methods are presented that were used for assessing exposures in a cohort mortality study of 15,000 employees who held 150,000 jobs at an Air Force base from 1939 to 1982. Standardisation of the word order and spelling of the job titles identified 43,000 unique job title organisation combinations. Walkthrough surveys were conducted, long term employees were interviewed, and available industrial hygiene data were collected to evaluate historic exposures. Because of difficulties linking air monitoring data and use of specific chemicals to the departments identified in the work histories, position descriptions were used to identify the tasks in each job. From knowledge of the tasks and the chemicals used in those tasks the presence or absence of 23 chemicals or groups of chemicals were designated for each job organisation combination. Also, estimates of levels of exposure were made for trichloroethylene and for mixed solvents, a category comprising several solvents including trichloroethylene, Stoddard solvent, carbon tetrachloride, JP4 gasoline, freon, alcohols, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, acetone, toluene, methyl ethyl ketone, methylene chloride, o-dichlorobenzene, perchloroethylene, chloroform, styrene, and xylene.

Full text

PDF
532

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Amandus H. E., Wheeler R., Jankovic J., Tucker J. The morbidity and mortality of vermiculite miners and millers exposed to tremolite-actinolite: Part I. Exposure estimates. Am J Ind Med. 1987;11(1):1–14. doi: 10.1002/ajim.4700110102. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Corn M., Esmen N. A. Workplace exposure zones for classification of employee exposures to physical and chemical agents. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J. 1979 Jan;40(1):47–57. doi: 10.1080/15298667991429318. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dement J. M., Harris R. L., Jr, Symons M. J., Shy C. M. Exposures and mortality among chrysotile asbestos workers. Part I: exposure estimates. Am J Ind Med. 1983;4(3):399–419. doi: 10.1002/ajim.4700040303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Esmen N. Retrospective industrial hygiene surveys. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J. 1979 Jan;40(1):58–65. doi: 10.1080/15298667991429327. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gibbs G. W., Lachance M. Dust exposure in the chrysotile asbestos mines and mills of Quebec. Arch Environ Health. 1972 Mar;24(3):189–197. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Greenberg R. A., Tamburro C. H. Exposure indices for epidemiological surveillance of carcinogenic agents in an industrial chemical environment. J Occup Med. 1981 May;23(5):353–358. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gérin M., Siemiatycki J., Kemper H., Bégin D. Obtaining occupational exposure histories in epidemiologic case-control studies. J Occup Med. 1985 Jun;27(6):420–426. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Lee A. M., Fraumeni J. F., Jr Arsenic and respiratory cancer in man: an occupational study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1969 Jun;42(6):1045–1052. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lloyd J. W., Lundin F. E., Jr, Redmond C. K., Geiser P. B. Long-term mortality study of steelworkers. IV. Mortality by work area. J Occup Med. 1970 May;12(5):151–157. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Mancuso T. F., Ciocco A., el-Attar A. A. An epidemiological approach to the rubber industry. A study based on departmental experience. J Occup Med. 1968 May;10(5):213–232. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rice C., Harris R. L., Jr, Lumsden J. C., Symons M. J. Reconstruction of silica exposure in the North Carolina dusty trades. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J. 1984 Oct;45(10):689–696. doi: 10.1080/15298668491400458. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Spirtas R., Stewart P. A., Lee J. S., Marano D. E., Forbes C. D., Grauman D. J., Pettigrew H. M., Blair A., Hoover R. N., Cohen J. L. Retrospective cohort mortality study of workers at an aircraft maintenance facility. I. Epidemiological results. Br J Ind Med. 1991 Aug;48(8):515–530. doi: 10.1136/oem.48.8.515. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Vaughan T. L., Strader C., Davis S., Daling J. R. Formaldehyde and cancers of the pharynx, sinus and nasal cavity: I. Occupational exposures. Int J Cancer. 1986 Nov 15;38(5):677–683. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910380510. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Industrial Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES