Off-Gassing of Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds from Fire-Fighters’ Uniforms in Private Vehicles—A Pilot Study

Andrew P. W. Banks, Xianyu Wang, Chang He, Michael Gallen, Kevin V. Thomas and Jochen F. Mueller
Additional contact information
Andrew P. W. Banks: QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia
Xianyu Wang: QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia
Chang He: QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia
Michael Gallen: QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia
Kevin V. Thomas: QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia
Jochen F. Mueller: QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-9

Abstract: Firefighters’ uniforms become contaminated with a wide range of chemicals, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Laundering practices do not completely remove PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs from firefighting uniforms. This residual contamination of firefighting ensembles may be an ongoing source of exposure to firefighters. Firefighters are known to occasionally store firefighting ensembles in private vehicles. This study aimed to assess whether a firefighting uniform in a vehicle could act as a source for PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs to vehicle users. The shell layers of four laundered firefighting uniforms were sampled non-destructively. Three of these uniforms were heated in a laboratory oven (40, 60, and 80 °C) while the fourth was placed in a private vehicle on a summer day and off-gassing samples were collected from the uniforms. The off-gassing results for PAHs and OPFRs were relatively consistent between laboratory oven and the in-vehicle sample with ? 13 PAHs in off-gas ranging from 7800–23,000 ng uniform ?1 day ?1 , while the ? 6 OPFRs off-gassed was an order of magnitude lower at 620–1600 ng uniform ?1 day ?1 . The off-gassing results for PBDEs were much lower and less consistent between the experiments, which may reflect differences in uniform history. Currently, there is limited understanding of how PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs off-gassed from firefighting uniforms influence firefighter exposure to these chemicals. These findings suggest that firefighting ensembles off-gassing in private vehicles could be a relevant source of PAHs, OPFRs, and PBDEs that contributes to firefighters’ exposure and that this warrants further investigation.

Keywords: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs); polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs); firefighters; uniform; off-gassing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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