Table 1.
Rubber dust (mg/m3) | Rubber fumes (mg/m3) | n-Nitrosamines sum score (μg/m3) | NDMA* (μg/m3) | NMor† (μg/m3) | ||||||||||||||||
N | AM | GM | GSD | N | AM | GM | GSD | N | AM | GM | GSD | N | AM | GM | GSD | N | AM | GM | GSD | |
Number of measurements | 4157 | 1.84 | 0.58 | 4.6 | 3803 | 0.57 | 0.26 | 3.51 | 2023 | 7.87 | 0.56 | 1.41 | 2023 | 0.32 | 0.16 | 2.81 | 2025 | 0.27 | 0.16 | 2.70 |
Below LOD‡ | 11.3% | 21.9% | NA | 88.7% | 85.7% | |||||||||||||||
Sector | ||||||||||||||||||||
General rubber goods | 1607 | 2.68 | 1.07 | 4.01 | 1987 | 0.76 | 0.39 | 3.29 | 787 | 14.82 | 1.06 | 1.73 | 795 | 0.29 | 0.16 | 2.72 | 793 | 0.29 | 0.16 | 2.82 |
Tyres | 2550 | 1.31 | 0.40 | 4.42 | 1816 | 0.35 | 0.17 | 3.23 | 1236 | 3.44 | 0.24 | 1.04 | 1228 | 0.33 | 0.16 | 2.87 | 1232 | 0.25 | 0.16 | 2.62 |
P value | 0.053 | 0.002 | <0.001 | 0.012 | 0.128 | |||||||||||||||
Aggregated BRMA§ Departments | ||||||||||||||||||||
Crude materials and mixing | 2005 | 2.62 | 0.41 | 4.93 | 1107 | 0.49 | 0.23 | 3.76 | 85 | 1.13 | −0.06 | 0.54 | 86 | 0.20 | 0.15 | 2.86 | 86 | 0.28 | 0.16 | 2.92 |
Preprocessing and assembly | 616 | 1.23 | 0.32 | 3.73 | 515 | 0.34 | 0.16 | 3.43 | 250 | 5.68 | 0.26 | 1.16 | 249 | 0.35 | 0.16 | 2.76 | 249 | 0.23 | 0.15 | 2.57 |
Curing, Vulcanising | 930 | 0.74 | 0.33 | 4.07 | 1716 | 0.67 | 0.34 | 3.38 | 1371 | 9.77 | 0.72 | 1.53 | 1373 | 0.31 | 0.16 | 3.19 | 1379 | 0.26 | 0.16 | 2.65 |
Finishing, assembly and miscellaneous | 606 | 1.56 | 0.41 | 4.17 | 465 | 0.6 | 0.26 | 3.28 | 317 | 3.18 | 0.23 | 0.97 | 315 | 0.33 | 0.16 | 2.35 | 311 | 0.32 | 0.17 | 2.98 |
P value | <0.001 | 0.006 | 0.392 | 0.074 | 0.057 | |||||||||||||||
Sample type | ||||||||||||||||||||
Personal | 2416 | 2.53 | 1.00 | 3.95 | 2492 | 0.69 | 0.35 | 3.28 | 1099 | 10.43 | 0.57 | 1.57 | 1119 | 0.22 | 0.14 | 2.47 | 1114 | 0.21 | 0.14 | 2.43 |
Stationary | 1741 | 0.87 | 0.28 | 4.09 | 1311 | 0.33 | 0.15 | 3.29 | 924 | 4.82 | 0.54 | 1.18 | 904 | 0.43 | 0.18 | 3.17 | 911 | 0.34 | 0.18 | 2.99 |
P value | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.388 | <0.001 | <0.001 | |||||||||||||||
Dataset | ||||||||||||||||||||
BRMA§ | 3799 | 1.76 | 0.55 | 4.61 | 2494 | 0.32 | 0.17 | 3.08 | ||||||||||||
HSE-NEDB¶ | 358 | 2.71 | 1.15 | 3.84 | 3803 | 1.02 | 0.59 | 2.97 | ||||||||||||
P value | 0.434 | 0.008 | ||||||||||||||||||
Country | ||||||||||||||||||||
UK** | 4157 | 1.84 | 0.58 | 4.6 | 3803 | 0.57 | 0.26 | 3.51 | 84 | 3.67 | 0.34 | 1.01 | 81 | 0.88 | 0.35 | 3.89 | 83 | 0.35 | 0.17 | 3.01 |
Germany | 0 | 0 | 1939 | 8.05 | 0.57 | 1.42 | 1942 | 0.29 | 0.15 | 2.73 | 1942 | 0.26 | 0.16 | 2.69 | ||||||
P value | N/A | N/A | 0.590 | 0.010 | 0.628 |
* N-nitrosodimethylamine.
†N-nitrosomorpholine.
‡Limit of detection.
§ British Rubber Manufacturing Association.
¶British Health and Safety Executive National Exposure Database.
**Only UK data were used for rubber fumes and rubber dust analyses.
AM, arithmetic mean; GM, geometric means; GSD, geometric standard deviation; LOD, limit of detection; NDMA, N-nitrosodimethylamine; NMor, N-nitrosomorpholine.