Strategy to evaluate the impact of formaldehyde in anatomical pathology laboratory part II

Formaldehyde (FA) is a hazardous chemical, highly used in the anatomical pathology laboratories. The adverse health effects related to FA occupational exposure are generally related to long-term exposure, however the short-term exposure to peak concentrations are equally of high concern. The occupational monitoring commonly uses the 8h-Time Weight Average (TWA) metric to assess the exposure, but for those chemicals with acute effects, also the15min short-term exposure is strongly recommended. In this study, the occupational monitoring was carried out in an anatomical pathology laboratory with an in-continuous, instantaneous, and direct reading instrument for 65 work shifts (WS). In none of these, the FA European Union (EU) TWA occupational limit (620 g/m3) was exceeded. Differently, in 40 WS the EU Short Term Exposure Limit (STEL) (740 g/m3) was exceeded, even several times a WS. In sight of this, the 8h-TWA metric only could give poor information of the exposure scenario, involving peak emissions, then a 15min peak exposure assessment, via in continuous monitoring, could help managing the risk. In addition, using the inference equation, an Action Value (AV) of the 8h-TWA above which the 15min measurements are strongly recommended, equal to 23.1 g/m3, is suggested for FA.