Estimation of Personal Exposure to Air Pollutants for Workers Using Time Activity Pattern and Air Concentration of Microenvironments

Objectives: Time-activity studies have become an integral part of comprehensive exposure assessment and personal exposure modeling. The aims of this study were to estimate exposure levels to nitrogen dioxide($NO_2$) and volatile organic compounds(VOCs), and to compare estimated exposures by using time-activity patterns and indoor air concentrations. Methods: The major microenvironments for office workers were selected using the Time-Use Survey conducted by the National Statistical Office in Korea in 2009. A total of 9,194 and 6,130 workers were recruited for weekdays and weekends, respectively, from the Time-Use Survey. It appears that workers were spending about 50% of their time in the house and about 30% of their time in other indoor areas during the weekdays. In addition, we analyzed the time-activity patterns of 20 office workers and indoor air concentrations in Daegu using a questionnaire and time-activity diary. Estimated exposures were compared with measured concentrations using the time-weighted average analysis of air pollutants. Conclusions: According to the time-activity pattern for the office workers, time spent in the residence indoors during the summer and winter have been shown as $11.12{\pm}2.20$ hours and $12.48{\pm}1.77$ hours, respectively, which indicates higher hours in the winter. Time spent in the office in the summer has been shown to be 1.5 hours higher than in the winter. The target pollutants demonstrate a positive correlation ($R^2=0.076{\sim}0.553$)in the personal exposure results derived from direct measurement and estimated personal exposure concentrations by applying the time activity pattern, as well as measured concentration of the partial environment to the TWA model. However, these correlations were not statistically significant. This may be explained by the difference being caused by other indoor environments, such as a bar, cafe, or diner.

시간활동 양상과 국소환경 농도를 이용한 근로자의 유해 공기오염물질 노출 예측