Factors affecting occupational black carbon exposure in enclosed railway stations
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Many rail services around the world continue to use diesel as the primary fuel source and enclosed railway stations have been identified as a possible hotspot for exposure to harmful diesel exhaust exposures. Little is known about the occupational exposure to air pollution for railway station workers due to their mobility around the station and variations in station design. A detailed understanding of the concentration of black carbon (BC), a diesel exhaust tracer, inside railway stations and the factors driving occupational exposures is required to minimize occupational exposure. Real-time personal exposure to BC was measured during 60 work-shifts encompassing different roles at three large enclosed railway stations of different design in London, Birmingham and Edinburgh (UK). Sampling was conducted by the train station workers over a period of 27 days between January 2017 to October 2018. Worker shift-mean BC exposures ranged 0.6–20.8 μg m−3 but 1-min peak exposures reached 773 μg m−3, with train dispatchers experiencing the highest BC exposures. Station design, job role, and frequency of diesel trains were the main drivers of occupational BC exposure. Elevated exposures for some station workers indicate that mitigation measures to reduce their exposure should be implemented to lower the risk of occupational health impacts. These could include improving ventilation and reducing engine emissions.
Date Issued
2022-11
Date Acceptance
2022-07-25
Citation
Atmospheric Environment, 2022, 289, pp.1-14
ISSN
1352-2310
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
1
End Page
14
Journal / Book Title
Atmospheric Environment
Volume
289
Copyright Statement
© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231022003661?via%3Dihub
Subjects
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
0104 Statistics
0401 Atmospheric Sciences
0907 Environmental Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
119301
Date Publish Online
2022-08-02