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The impact of initial job assignment on formaldehyde exposure among African‐American and white formaldehyde industry workers
Author(s) -
Figgs Larry W.,
Stewart Patricia A.,
Blair Aaron
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199807)34:1<57::aid-ajim8>3.0.co;2-n
Subject(s) - formaldehyde , medicine , demography , occupational safety and health , occupational exposure , white (mutation) , environmental health , chemistry , organic chemistry , pathology , sociology , gene , biochemistry
We compared initial job assignments of African‐American and white employees at eight worksites that used formaldehyde between 1940 and 1979. Unexposed workers were excluded. Median, ambient air formaldehyde, 8‐hour, time‐weighted average (TWA 8 ) exposure estimates were determined for each worksite. Job assignments with TWAs above the worksite's median TWA 8 were called high formaldehyde exposed (HFE). Job assignments with TWAs less than or equal to the worksite's median TWA 8 for the same period were called lower formaldehyde exposed (LFE). Two worksites assigned black workers to HFE jobs in significantly higher proportions than white workers in some decades. One worksite assigned white workers in significantly higher proportions than black workers to HFE jobs in some decades. One worksite assigned racial groups in nearly equal proportions from 1940 to 1969. The remaining sites showed insignificant assignment disproportions (α = 0.05; Chi‐square ≤ 3.841, 1 degree of freedom) for any period. No major trend was apparent across all plants and decades. Am. J. Ind. Med. 34:57–64, 1998. Published 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. This article was prepared by a group of United States government employees and non‐United States government employees, and as such is subject to U.S.C. Sec. 105.