ORIGINAL PAPER
Exposure to diesel exhaust fumes
in the context of exposure
to ultrafine particles
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1
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland
(Department of Physical Hazards)
2
Textile Research Institute, Łódź, Poland
(Scientific Department of Unconventional Technologies and Textiles)
3
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland
(Department of Environmental Epidemiology)
Corresponding author
Stella Bujak-Pietrek
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Department of Physical Hazards, św. Teresy 8, 91-348 Łódź, Poland
Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2016;29(4):667-82
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ABSTRACT
Objectives: Diesel exhaust fumes emission is a significant source of ultrafine particles, the size of which is expressed
in nanometers. People occupationally exposed to diesel exhaust particles include mainly workers servicing vehicles
with engines of this type. This article presents the analysis of measurements of ultrafine particle concentrations occurring
in the bus depot premises during the work connected with everyday technical servicing of buses. Material and Methods: The measurements were carried out in the everyday servicing (ES) room of the bus depot before, during
and after the work connected with bus servicing. Determinations included: particle concentrations in terms of particle
number and particle surface area, and mass concentrations of aerosol. Results: Mean value of number concentration
of 10- to 1000-nm particles increased almost 20-fold, from 7600 particles/cm3 before starting bus servicing procedures
to 130 000 particles/cm3 during the bus servicing procedures in the room. During the procedures, the mean surface
area concentration of particles potentially deposited in the alveolar (A) region was almost 3 times higher than that of
the particles depositing in the tracheo-bronchial (TB) region: 356.46 μm2/cm3 vs. 95.97 μm2/cm3, respectively. The mass
concentration of the fraction of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter 0.02–1 μm (PM1) increased 5-fold during
the analyzed procedures and was 0.042 mg/m3 before, and 0.298 mg/m3 while the procedures continued. Conclusions: At the time when bus servicing procedures continued in the ES room, a very high increase in all parameters of the analyzed
particles was observed. The diesel exhaust particles exhibit a very high degree of fragmentation and, while their number
is very high and their surface area is very large, their mass concentration is relatively low. The above findings confirm
that ultrafine particles found in diesel exhaust fumes may be harmful to the health of the exposed people, and to their
respiratory tract in particular.