A cross-industry assessment of personal exposures to methyl methacrylate

This study investigated personal exposures to methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer during monomer production and use within the chemical manufacturing industry. The aim was to include multiple companies and sites to provide information regarding differences and similarities among exposure subgroups within the industry during the time period of 1998-2000. To this end, personal exposure data for MMA monomer from three chemical corporations was combined into a single data set. The data was stratified by sample type (full shift or short term), job classification (monomer production, monomer use, maintenance, distribution, and laboratory operations), company, and facility. Only classifications with three samples or more were included in the final data set, yielding 376 samples for analysis (334 full-shift and 42 short-term samples). Results compare well with previously published data on MMA monomer exposures. Although there was significant variability in several exposure subgroups (particularly among companies and facilities), MMA monomer use in the manufacture of other products resulted in the highest exposure distributions, with lower exposures associated with monomer production, maintenance, and distribution operations. The usefulness of these findings is related to the provision of information for discussion of current needs in the industry regarding data sampling, exposure assessment, and standards development.