Abstract
An investigation was conducted to examine the current extent of exposure data obtained for 1,3-butadiene (106990) and to provide recommendations for reducing potential exposures to 1,3-butadiene. The monitoring results from the present NIOSH investigation for the 1,3-butadiene industry revealed that full shift personal exposures for all job categories were well below the current OSHA permissible exposure limit of 1000 parts per million (ppm). A total of 692 personal full shift and short term and 259 area air samples were taken for 1,3-butadiene. Arithmetic mean full shift personal exposures for all job categories was 2.7ppm which was below the ACGIH threshold limit value of 10ppm. These results suggest that workers in this industry did not currently have measurable exposure to 1,3-butadiene. The engineering controls and work practices that have been developed were effective in minimizing personnel exposures if these practices were properly used and maintained. The authors conclude that short term personal exposures may, however, exceed 10ppm for operations such as bomb sampling, bomb voiding or maintenance, and the use of personal protection would be needed to control peak exposures for these operations.
