作業環境中甲苯暴露恕限值之探討

Discussions on Permissible Exposure Limit for Toluene in Workplace

林宜長(Yi-Chang Lin)

《中華民國公共衛生學會雜誌》 6期 (1986/03) Pp. 11-22

https://doi.org/10.6288/JNPHARC1986-06-01-03

摘要

在工業過程及日常生活中，甲苯是一種用途旣廣、用量也大的有機溶媒，同時它也是苯系衍生物製造時的一種重要的基本原料，與此有關的作素員工為數甚為可觀，且由它致的健康危害事件亦時有所聞。因此如何保護雇工健康，使之免受甲苯之危害，向為學界及勞動安全衛生主管單位所重視。
預防甲苯職業曝露所致健康危害的最重要方法之一是妥善控制作業環境空氣中甲苯的濃度並使之等於或更小於容許濃度標準。目前國內作業環境空氣中甲苯之法定容許濃度標準與美國工業衛生技師協會(U。S. C GIH)所建議者雷同，但與美國職業安全衛生著(U。S。OSHA)所頒之法定標準，在哲理上似乎有差異。
因為在可見的將來，前述OSHA所頒訂的甲苯容許濃度標準值可能被我國引用作為來日國內甲苯容許濃度標準修訂之基本參考實料，故有關美國之甲苯法定標準實有加以探討的必要。依據Jones及Brief的構思並參考有關文獻，筆者認為美國OSHA對作業環境空氣中甲苯容許曝露濃度所訂的三種標準值（即average, ceiling及peak）堪稱合理。此外，對由於不同的採樣時間所得甲苯曝露濃度資料如何以對數正規分佈方式來做圖以及如何將所得到的圖形加以解析，在文中亦有討論。

並列摘要

One of the most important means for the prevention of health impairment from occupational exposure to toluene is to control the airborne toluene concentration to a level just at or below the permissible exposure limit. The term of this limit currently established by the Ministry of Interior, R.O.C., is indicative of almost the same concept as that recommended by the U.S. ACGIH, but different from that promulgated by the U.S. OSHA. It can be expected to see that in the future, however, the above mentioned OSHA's standard might be used as a basis of this country for renewing the permissible limit for toluene exposure.
Recognizing this situation, a rational and simple procedure basically originated from the notion of the Jones and Brief has been developed, that permits toluene exposure data to be compared with the three types of occupational exposure limits (average, ceiling, and prak) given in the U.S. OSHA standards. Discussions of how to plot log-normal toluene exposure data for various sampling periods and interpret the resulting graph are also included.

並列關鍵字

toluene ； permissible exposure limit ； average ； ceiling ； peak ； log-normal distribution