228b - Settled dust and biomonitoring - Are these tools complementary enough for a detailed occupational exposure assessment?

Abstract Human biomonitoring (HBM) provides unequivocal evidence that both exposure and uptake of a chemical have taken place and integrates exposure from all routes. In addition, it can help identify unintentional and unexpected exposures and assess the effectiveness of existing risk-management measures. Probably due to the relevance of the information provided, HBM has a longstanding practice in occupational health. In opposite, settled dust (SD) samples are not frequently considered in occupational exposure assessments, mainly because occupational exposure limits (OELs) are based in airborne dust samples. However, in specific contexts SD might provide unique information difficult to obtained with air samples, such as: it provides workplace background contamination besides only having information on exposure during the tasks that we think imply exposure, normally assess a longer exposure window than a shift and this prolonged period might be an advantage for exposure assessment, convenience of collection which typically does not require costly sampling equipment and more easily used for target and untargeted analysis. In this presentation, we intend to present data from HBM4EU e-waste study and other research projects to stimulate the discussion on how these two exposure assessment methods provide complementary information and if settled dust samples can be the option instead of air samples. Presented on behalf of the HBM4EU occupational study project team.