118 Human Biomonitoring (HBM) for emergency responders – Preparedness for exposure assessment after chemical incidents

Abstract Human biomonitoring (HBM) is a versatile tool for exposure analysis and assessment, not only under routine conditions but also in the case of short-term exposure or after accidental release of hazardous substances. Due to the generally short half-lives of hazardous substances in the body, the reaction time between exposure and sampling is crucial for the success of HBM analyses. Therefore, a standardized HBM program after emergency operations with possible product contact was developed and implemented at a large chemical production site. Emergency responders can provide urine or blood samples after operations with contact to hazardous substances and hand them in at the HBM laboratory, together with a questionnaire about the general conditions of the operations: hazardous substances, duration of emergency works, proximity to the source of exposure, personal protective equipment, and time of sampling. In altogether 21 deployments in 2023, 205 urine samples of 123 emergency responders were collected and 508 single analyses were carried out. In 2 cases, the internal action value for the acrylonitrile metabolite 2-cyanoethyl mercapturic acid (75 μg/g creatinine) was exceeded (maximum: 106 μg/g creatinine). The results show a generally high level of personal safety of the emergency responders. The standardized and easy-to-access HBM program addresses critical aspects of HBM for emergency responders after chemical incidents. It provides feedback on the efficiency of health and safety measures, it enables the continued optimization of procedures, and it constitutes a central element of preparedness for exposure analysis and assessment in case of larger incidents.