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Abstract Introduction Exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from nail salon activities presents a risk of acute and chronic health effects to nail technicians. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of self-reported symptoms associated with using nail products, and to assess the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic effects of selected VOCs among formal and informal nail technicians in Johannesburg, South Africa, using a probabilistic risk assessment approach. Methods A questionnaire was administered to 54 formal and 60 informal nail technicians to elicit information on sociodemographic characteristics, work conditions, and self-reported symptoms. Passive sampling was used to measure 60 personal breathing zone concentrations of 20 nail technicians over a period of three consecutive days, for selected VOCs. In addition, 29 passive samples for formaldehyde were collected in the informal sector. Results The findings showed that the formal sector employs mainly females while the informal sector employs male and female nail technicians. With the exception of formaldehyde, all VOC concentrations were below their respective occupational exposure limits. Sixty percent of the informal nail technicians reported having experienced health-related symptoms, compared to 52% of the formal nail technicians. All nail technicians’ median and 95th percentile non-cancer risks exceeded the acceptable risk of 1 for xylene, 2-propanol, and benzene. Discussion and conclusion The cancer risk estimates (medians and 95th percentiles) for benzene and formaldehyde exceeded the US EPA cancer risk threshold of 1 x 10-6. These findings indicate that nail technicians are a risk of developing acute and chronic health effects from long-term low level-exposure to VOCs.
Keretetse et al. (Mon,) studied this question.