ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the exposure to arsenic in preventive maintenance (PM) engineers in a semiconductor industry by detecting speciated inorganic arsenic metabolites in the urine.MethodsThe exposed group included 8 PM engineers from the clean process area and 13 PM engineers from the ion implantation process area; the non-exposed group consisted of 14 office workers from another company who were not occupationally exposed to arsenic. A spot urine specimen was collected from each participant for the detection and measurement of speciated inorganic arsenic metabolites. Metabolites were separated by high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma spectrometry-mass spectrometry.ResultsUrinary arsenic metabolite concentrations were 1.73 g/L, 0.76 g/L, 3.45 g/L, 43.65 g/L, and 51.32 g/L for trivalent arsenic (As3+), pentavalent arsenic (As5+), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), and total inorganic arsenic metabolites (As3+ + As5+ + MMA + DMA), respectively, in clean process PM engineers. In ion implantation process PM engineers, the concentrations were 1.74 g/L, 0.39 g/L, 3.08 g/L, 23.17 g/L, 28.92 g/L for As3+, As5+, MMA, DMA, and total inorganic arsenic metabolites, respectively. Levels of urinary As3+, As5+, MMA, and total inorganic arsenic metabolites in clean process PM engineers were significantly higher than that in the non-exposed group. Urinary As3+ and As5+ levels in ion implantation process PM engineers were significantly higher than that in non-exposed group.ConclusionLevels of urinary arsenic metabolites in PM engineers from the clean process and ion implantation process areas were higher than that in office workers. For a complete assessment of arsenic exposure in the semiconductor industry, further studies are needed.

The possibility of acute hepatotoxicity caused by dimethylformamide (DMF) requires regular monitoring of the workers who are using DMF to prevent the occupational disease. The authors performed ambient and biological monitoring of workers involved in synthetic leather manufacturing processes using DMF to assess the correlation between the markers of ambient and biological monitoring of DMF. The authors monitored 142 workers occupationally exposed to DMF from 19 workshops in the synthetic leather and ink manufacturing industries located in northern region of Gyeonggi-do. The subjects answered questionnaire on work procedure and use of personal protective equipment to be classified by exposure type. DMF in air samples collected using personal air samplers, diffusive and active sampler, was analysed using gas chromatograph-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) with DB-FFAP column (length 30 m, i.d. 0.25 mm, film thickness 0.25 µm). Urinary N-methylformamide (NMF) was analysed using gas chromatograph-mass selective detector (GC-MSD) at selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode with DB-624 column (length 60 m, i.d. 0.25 mm, film thickness 1.40 µm). Geometric mean (GM) and geometric standard deviation (GSD) of the ambient DMF was 6.85 ± 3.43 ppm, and GM and GSD of urinary NMF was 42.3 ± 2.7 mg/L. The ratio of subjects with DMF level over 10 ppm was 44%, and those with urinary NMF over 15 mg/ L was 87%. NMF in urine adjusted by DMF in air was 4.61 ± 2.57 mg/L/ppm and 9.50 ± 2.41 mg/L/ppm, respectively, with or without respirator. There was seasonal differences of NMF in urine adjusted by DMF in air, 7.63 ± 2.74 mg/L/ppm in summer and 4.53 ± 2.29 mg/L/ppm in winter. The urinary NMF concentration which corresponds to 10 ppm of ambient DMF was 52.7 mg/L (r=0.650, n=128). Considering the difference of the route of exposure which resulted from the compliance of wearing personal protective equipment, the estimated contribution of respiratory and dermal exposure route for DMF was 48.5% vs. 51.5%.