Industrial Health Risk Assessment for Routine Workers in a Military Paint Shop

An industrial health risk assessment was conducted for employees engaged in routine tasks in a military paint shop. These workers handle a variety of compounds, including chromates, volatile organic compounds, and isocyanates. A risk assessment conforming to well-accepted, widely used guidance was conducted. The site-specific assessment incorporated data on task durations and personal protective equipment (PPE) use. The estimated chronic daily intake (CDI) for routine on-site workers was compared to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Reference Doses (RfDs) to estimate the likelihood of non-cancer effects. When the U.S. EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) lacked RfDs for compounds, efforts were made to utilize surrogates or guidance from other agencies. For carcinogenic effects the CDI was multiplied by the U.S. EPA slope factor and the resultant risk estimate compared to target incremental risk ranges. Using PPE recommended by the site's industrial hygiene department, it is anticipated that the U.S. EPA non-cancer threshold hazard index (HI) of 1.0 and target incremental cancer risk (R) of 10^?4 to 10^?6 will not be exceeded. However, under baseline modeling assumptions (i.e., no use of PPE), the concentrations of chemicals of potential concern (COPC) present in the air during routine operations suggest a potential health hazard. The baseline estimates emphasize the importance of proper PPE in the paint shop workplace and use of site-specific information in modeling.