Abstract No:
1273
Abstract Type:
Professional Poster
Authors:
S Tsai1
Institutions:
1National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Presenter:
Shih-Wei Tsai, PhD, CIH
National Taiwan University
Description:
Firefighters have consistently faced elevated health risks due to complex smoke and combustion by-products. Among these, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been recognized as a critical group of contaminants with strong links to cancer and other chronic outcomes. However, routine monitoring of firefighter exposure has often been limited to short-term air sampling or biomonitoring after incidents, leaving major gaps in understanding cumulative exposure. To address this challenge, we applied silicone wristbands as unobtrusive personal samplers to characterize firefighter PAH exposure during duty and station contexts. This approach integrated exposure over time, minimized interference with emergency activities, and provided a practical tool for capturing real-world conditions. By focusing on PAHs, the study has strengthened the evidence base for occupational exposure assessment and highlighted a pathway for developing more effective intervention and control strategies in the fire service.
Situation / Problem:
Firefighters have routinely been exposed to complex mixtures of combustion by-products, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have represented one of the most critical and carcinogenic groups among them. Traditional assessment methods, such as short-term area air sampling or post-event biomonitoring, have captured only limited windows of exposure and often failed to reflect the integrated burden accumulated across multiple shifts and environments. In addition, the high variability of fireground conditions and protective gear use has made consistent quantification of PAHs difficult. As a result, the extent of firefighters' cumulative PAH exposure has remained uncertain, leaving gaps in linking occupational exposure profiles with long-term health outcomes. To overcome these limitations, the application of silicone wristbands as personal passive samplers has provided an innovative and minimally intrusive approach to characterize PAH exposure over extended time frames in both duty and station contexts.
Methods:
We equipped firefighters with silicone wristbands for defined on-person sampling intervals and retrieved the bands for laboratory analysis. In parallel, firefighters had placed additional wristbands at pre-selected indoor locations (e.g., station or home) for context, and these were also retrieved. Wristbands were solvent-extracted, concentrated, and analyzed for a 16-PAH panel using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS).
The GC/MS system had employed a capillary column (e.g., DB-5ms, 30 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 µm) with helium as the carrier gas at a constant flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The oven program started at 60 °C (hold 1 min), ramped to 180 °C at 15 °C/min, then to 280 °C at 5 °C/min, and held for 10 min. The injector temperature was 280 °C, and injections were performed in splitless mode. The MS detector was operated in electron ionization (EI, 70 eV) and selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode for target PAHs.
Calibration curves for each PAH covered 0.1–5 µg/mL and demonstrated strong linearity (R≈0.997–0.9998). Representative calibration performance included naphthalene, acenaphthylene, fluorene, pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, and indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene. QA/QC included solvent blanks, procedural blanks, duplicate samples, matrix spikes, and field blanks to ensure analytical reliability.
Results / Conclusions:
Silicone wristbands worn by firefighters on duty have consistently shown higher levels and a broader range of PAHs compared with those placed in indoor environments. Wristbands retrieved from station offices reflected intermediate exposure profiles, indicating that residual contamination and off-gassing within the workplace have contributed to ongoing background levels of PAHs. In contrast, wristbands deployed in firefighters' homes generally displayed lower overall PAH burdens, although detectable compounds still demonstrated the persistence of these contaminants beyond the fireground.
The comparison among personal, office, and home wristbands has confirmed that firefighters have carried an additional exposure burden linked directly to fireground activities, while indoor environments such as stations have served as secondary reservoirs of PAHs. These findings have highlighted the importance of comprehensive exposure assessment strategies that account not only for active fire response but also for contamination transfer to workplaces and households.
Overall, the study has demonstrated that silicone wristbands provided a practical tool for distinguishing exposure patterns across duty and living contexts, thereby supporting more targeted interventions in gear decontamination, station hygiene, and worker protection practices.
Core Competencies:
Chemical Hazards
Secondary Core Competencies:
Exposure Assessment
Choose at least one (1), and up to five, (5) keywords from the following list. These selections will optimize your presentation's search results for attendees.
Exposure Assessment
Gas and vapor detection
Based on the selected primary competency area of your proposal, select one group below that would be best suited to serve as a subject matter expert for peer review:
(Select one)
Sampling and Laboratory Analysis Committee
Based on the information that will be presented during your proposed session, please indicate the targeted audience practice level: (select one)
Professional: Professional is a job title given to persons who have obtained a baccalaureate or graduate degree in IH/OH, public health, safety, environmental sciences, biology, chemistry, physics, or engineering or who have a degree in another area that meets the standards set forth in the next section, Knowledge and Skill Sets of IH/OH Practice Levels, and has had 4 or more years of practice. One significant way of demonstrating professional competence is to achieve certification by a 3rd party whose certification scheme is recognized by the International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) such as the Board of Global EHS Credentialing (BGC).
Was this session organized by an AIHA Technical Committee, Special Interest Group, Working Group, Advisory Group or other AIHA project Team?
No
Are worker exposure data and/or results of worker exposure data analysis presented?
No
How will this help advance the science of IH/OH?
Silicone wristbands have provided occupational hygienists with a simple and unobtrusive tool to characterize firefighter PAH exposure across duty, station, and home environments. By distinguishing higher exposures on duty from intermediate levels in stations and lower—but still detectable—levels in homes, this approach has demonstrated the transfer and persistence of contaminants beyond the fireground. The findings have practical value for designing targeted control strategies, including improved gear decontamination, station hygiene protocols, and education to reduce take-home exposures. Integrating wristband monitoring into fire service programs has offered a scalable method to evaluate intervention effectiveness and to strengthen long-term health protection for firefighters.
What level would you consider your presentation content geared towards?
Advanced: Specific topic within a subject in great detail. May cover current issues, involve complex calculations, analysis and synthesis, or evaluations/assessments of real-life scenarios Participant must have ten (10) or more years of experience in industrial hygiene or OEHS. Prerequisites required: working knowledge of the specific topic before the course.
Have you presented this information before?
No
I have read and agree to these guidelines.
Yes