Exposure of tanker drivers to gasoline and some of its components

The purpose of this study was to measure the exposure of road tanker drivers at work to gasoline and some of its components. The occupational hygiene measurements were made in two depots (one in northern Finland and the other in southern Finland) and in 11 service stations of a Finnish oil company during the loading and delivery of road tankers. Of the 21 measurements made, four were taken during top submerged loading of the road tankers and six during bottom loading at the depot. Eleven measurements were made during delivery at service stations. The duration of measurements varied from 10 to 44 min. The exposure of road tanker drivers to C3-C11 hydrocarbons of gasoline was under 300 mg m-3 during bottom loading measurements and during top loading exceeded 300 mg m-3 two measurements (50%). During delivery at service stations the exposure to C3-C11 hydrocarbons of gasoline exceeded 300 mg m-3 in four measurement (36%). The exposure of road tanker drivers during delivery depended mainly on the distance between working area and the emission point of discharging vapours from the tank, vents and wind direction. The mean exposures of road tanker drivers to benzene during loading and delivery were 1.1-18 mg m-3 in various situations. The mean exposures to n-hexane, to toluene and to xylene were 0.7-6.0, 1.4-11 and 0.8-4 mg m-3, respectively. The exposures to methyl-tert-butyl ether were between 13 and 91 mg m-3. All measurements were made during the summer. However, the temperature varied between 4 and 22 degrees C.