Use of Preliminary Exposure Reduction Practices or Laundering to Mitigate Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Contamination on Firefighter Personal Protective Equipment Ensembles.

ABSTRACT: Chronic health risks associated with firefighting continue to be documented and studied, however, the complexity of occupational exposures and the relationship between occupational exposure and contaminated personal protective equipment (PPE) remains unknown. Recent work has revealed that common PPE cleaning practices, which are becoming increasingly more common in the fire service, are not effective in removing certain contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), from PPE. To better understand the relationship between contaminated firefighter PPE and potential exposure to PAHs, and to gain further understanding of the efficacy of cleaning practices, we used a standardized fire exposure simulator that created repeatable conditions and measured PPE surface contamination le

SUBMITTER: Wilkinson AF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9916157 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature