MEASUREMENT AND ANALYSIS OF OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES TO COKE OVEN EMISSIONS

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Abstract
The studies described, which in the later stages had partial European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) funding, were initiated as a result of earlier environmental and epidemiological studies in the United Kingdom and in the United States where exposures of coke oven operatives to dust and benzene soluble materials (BSM) in the dust were measured and, in the United States, related to mortality rates. The results obtained in these surveys confirmed the U.S. findings that the main occupational groups were being exposed to BSM levels above the Threshold Limit Value. During this work, in conjunction with National Smokeless Fuels and the Health and Safety Executive, routine methods of sampling and analysis were developed and methods for controlling exposures were validated. Attempts to relate the occupational exposures to the epidemiological data to produce dose/response relationships were unsuccessful.