Journal of Environmental Health and Sustainable Development

en Health Risk Assessment of Occupational Exposure to BTEX Compounds in the Industrial Offset Printing Sector: A Combined Environmental and Biological Monitoring Approach Environmental pollution Original articles <div class="yw_text_small" dir="ltr" style="text-align:justify"> <div class="yw_text_small" dir="ltr" style="text-align:justify"> <div style="text-align: justify;">Introduction: Occupational exposure to the BTEX compounds (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene) in the printing industry is a major health concern due to their established carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic toxicity. This study aimed to quantify respiratory exposure, assess the internal biological dose, and determine the associated carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks using the US-EPA methodology. Methods: This cross-sectional study monitored 23 occupationally exposed printing workers and 23 unexposed administrative staff (control group). Personal respiratory air sampling was conducted for BTEX (NIOSH 1501/GC), and end-of-shift urine samples were collected for biological monitoring of t,t-MA (Benzene metabolite) and Hippuric Acid (Toluene metabolite) using HPLC. Health risks were calculated using the EPA guidelines for the Hazard Quotient (HQ) and Lifetime Cancer Risk (LCR). Results: The Mean BTEX concentrations were high, notably toluene (47.17±52.03 ppm) and xylene (45.12±68.41 ppm) were markedly elevated. Biological monitoring revealed statistically significant differences between the groups (p < 0.001); the mean t,t-MA level in the exposed group was 51,809.37 µg/g creatinine compared to 265.75 µg/g creatinine in the control group. Risk assessment indicated critical non-carcinogenic risks, with HQs for Xylene (230.06), Benzene (16.43), and Toluene (8.35) far exceeding the safety threshold of 1. The mean LCR for Benzene was 7.8×10−3, significantly surpassing the EPA acceptable limit of 10-6. Conclusion: Chronic BTEX exposure in this printing facility significantly exceeded the permissible occupational limits, resulting in substantial non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks. Immediate intervention through engineering controls and comprehensive revision of safety standards is urgently required to protect worker health.</div> </div> </div> Occupational Exposure, Volatile Organic Compounds, Health Risk Assessment, Biological Monitoring, Benzene. 2955 2965 http://jehsd.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1126-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Amir Masoud Ansari amiransaarii78@gmail.com 0009-0007-9497-3338 No Student Research committee,Department of Occupational Health and safety, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of medical sciences, Tehran, Iran Somayeh Farhang Dehghan somayeh.farhang@gmail.com 0000-0002-6607-6396 No Department of Occupational Health and Safety, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Zahra Khodoumi shkhodoomi@yahoo.com 0009-0002-4304-7768 No Department of Industrial Safety Engineering, Caspian University, Qazvin, Iran Davoud Panahi 0000-0002-1620-808X Yes Department of Occupational Health and Safety, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran