Environmental pollution and personal exposure to formaldehyde in a university hospital facility.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36125/ijoehy.v13i2.425Keywords:
Healthcare workers, Formaldehyde, Occupational exposureAbstract
Formaldehyde is a ubiquitous chemical used in many industrial and professional sectors due to its multiple properties. In the health sector it is used as a stabilizer and preservative for organs and biological tissues in surgical and endoscopic clinics, operating and autopsy theaters and Pathological Anatomy services. The aim of this study was to measure the levels of formaldehyde pollution and the consequent exposure of the health personnel of a large university hospital. The study involved, in addition to the services already mentioned, other environments in which the use of formaldehyde is envisaged, such as storage rooms, anatomical archives and funeral services, generally not subject to an assessment. The levels of formaldehyde in all analyzed areas, measured through environmental and personal sampling, were lower than both the transitional limit value currently adopted in Italy, and the more restrictive limit value in force from 2024 of 0.37 mg / m3 (range 0.002 -0.264 mg/m3). As expected, the highest values were measured in the Pathological Anatomy laboratories during the repeated manipulation of numerous anatomical samples preserved in formaldehyde. Levels not particularly low, albeit lower than the limit values, were also detected within the anatomical archives in relation to the high number of finds stored in non-hermetic containers (0.005-0.252 mg/m3). In such environments, however, the presence of personnel is occasional and of short duration, even if their remediation would reduce the dispersion of this chemical in adjacent rooms. In outpatient clinics, operating and autopsy theaters, where exposure to formaldehyde occurs exclusively when the anatomical samples are immersed in the collection vessels, on the contrary, the levels were particularly low (range 0.002-0.044 mg/m3). The personal exposure (0.016-0.897 mg/m3) in all services was found, in almost all cases, below the limit values and, consistently with the levels of environmental pollution: the highest values were those of the personnel of the Pathological Anatomy (average 0.148 mg/m3) where the only level over the limit value was measured.
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