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Med. Pr. 2006;57(4):381-387

Petroleum substances - human health hazards. I. Classification of petroleum substances on the list of dangerous substances and assessment of existing hazards

Pochodne ropy naftowej - zagrożenia dla zdrowia człowieka. I. Klasyfikacja substancji ropopochodnych w wykazie substancji niebez

Katarzyna Konieczko Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland

Abstract

Complex products derived from petroleum are widely used as fuels, greases, solvents, and intermediates in many branches of industry. Petroleum exposure-related human health hazards, observed in occupationally exposed people and in the general population, are a serious sanitary problem. Complex and variable composition of individual petroleum products makes the actual assessment of human health hazards difficult. Potential hazards, and resulting classification of individual petroleum substance groups, are discussed in the presented work. This should prove to be helpful to work safety and hygiene services as well as to supervising institutions, mainly the sanitary inspection, in a proper assessment of the hazards, and consequently in taking appropriate preventive actions. In Part I., general issues concerning the hazard assessment and legal aspects of petroleum substances classification are presented. In Part. II., individual groups of petroleum substances are discussed with respect to health hazards, resulting from both physicochemical properties and toxicity, and their classification based on this analysis is suggested.

Key words

petroleum, petroleum substances, health hazard, classification