Exposure to airborne endotoxins among sewer workers: an exploratory study

Exploratory bioaerosol sampling was performed in order to assess exposure to airborne endotoxins during sewer work. Personal samples were collected in underground sewer pipes using 37-mm closed-face cassettes containing fibreglass filters (CFC-FG method) or polycarbonate filters (CFC-PC method). Endotoxins were quantified using the limulus amoebocyte lysate assay. Concentrations of airborne endotoxins at sewer workplaces (16-420 EU m(-3)) were higher than those measured outside the sewer network (0.6-122 EU m(-3)). Sewer worker exposure to airborne endotoxins depended on the workplace and on the tasks. Exposure levels were the highest for tasks involving agitation of water and matter, especially for 'chamber cleanup' and 'pipes cleanup' with a high-pressure water jet. Airborne endotoxin levels at the workplace tended to be higher when CFC-FG was used as the sampling method rather than CFC-PC. The adjusted mean of the measured concentrations for CFC-PC represents 57% of the mean observed with CFC-FG. The number of samples collected in the descriptive study was too low for drawing definitive conclusions and further exposure investigations are needed. Therefore, our exploratory study provides new exposure data for the insufficiently documented sewer working environment and it would be useful for designing larger exposures studies.