**2.5 Occupational exposure limit values**

The fixed amount on a sorbent tube over a work shift corresponds to average concentrations of solvents and subsequently will be compared with

**33**

*Per- and Trichloroethylene Air Monitoring in Dry Cleaners in the City of Sfax (Tunisia)*

occupational exposure limit values OELVs that are time-weighted averages on

In the absence of Tunisian guide values [8, 9], several OELVs are available internationally, for instance in France [17, 18, 25–27], Europe [27, 28], and the United States of America [25, 26]. The values are presented in **Table 2** OELVs are fixed for the purpose of helping employers to protect workers from occupational diseases and adverse health effects due to the exposure to hazardous chemicals within their job tasks.

In this study, we chose to select the most protective values among the explored ones.

Following the door-to-door canvassing, 47 dry cleaning facilities were located in the city of Sfax within a radius of 5 km. **Figure 3** shows the locations of facilities in each major road using the map of Sfax city from "Google Maps." The facilities' locations on the map show their congestion in the city center with 19 dry cleaners which represents more than 40%. No facility has been identified in the medina quarter or

After the meetings with the facilities' managers, only 33 dry cleaning companies accepted to participate to our study. Thus, we had an agreement with them about the confidentiality of their names, contacts and any personal specific data. The identification questionnaire was carried out for all of them. Then, we randomly selected 16 facilities. The selected ones are highlighted on the map in **Figure 3**.

It was noticed that the majority of dry cleaning establishments are located next to habitation. Moreover, they are exclusively naturally ventilated through open doors/windows. The 33 explored facilities have small surfaces with a mean value of

 (95% CI [25.6-37]) where there are one or two machines. Despite all these exposure circumstances, we highlighted the almost total lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). In fact, employees never use masks even when they are directly manipulating the solvents, only one facility provides gloves, and three facilities use

The work activity is semiindustrial and the dry cleaners reported that they are solely using PCE with a mean quantity of 177.6 L/year (95% CI [159.9-195.3]). The number of

Only in F3, the TCE concentration in the workplace's atmosphere is 40% lower than the mean concentration in all facilities. This could be due to the large surface of F3 compared to the other workplaces, which is 43% higher than the mean surface value. Moreover, we noticed that dry cleaners in F3 are using the lowest quantity of

As for PCE concentrations in the workplaces' atmospheres, they are remarkably variable with a CV higher than 100%, which is significantly higher than the CV of TCE concentrations in the workplaces' atmospheres. PCE concentrations in the workplaces' atmospheres have no relationship with the used quantity of solvents. This may be explained by the differences in the working behaviors between the facilities, since all of them are not following the same standard prevention measures. As for the personal sampling, TCE concentrations are almost the same as the workplace atmosphere levels, except for F3 where it increased by about 25%. However,

(95% CI [40.4-46]).

workers in the facilities varied from 1 to 6, yet about 70% of them were women. The chromatograms of our analysis show sharp, narrow, and well-separated peaks of both solvents. Interestingly, TCE is detected in all samples (fixed and personal), whereas the PCE is detected only in 6 workplaces among the 16 (**Table 3**). TCE concentrations in the workplaces' atmospheres are almost equal in all facilities except for F3 (coefficient of variation (CV) is equal to 12.5%). In fact, their

solvents, which is 60% lower than the mean quantity used in all facilities.

mean value is nearly the same as their median: ~43.2 mg/m3

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86725*

the basis of 8 h a day.

the Sidi Mansour road.

**3. Results**

31.3 m2

protective clothing.

*Per- and Trichloroethylene Air Monitoring in Dry Cleaners in the City of Sfax (Tunisia) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86725*

occupational exposure limit values OELVs that are time-weighted averages on the basis of 8 h a day.

In the absence of Tunisian guide values [8, 9], several OELVs are available internationally, for instance in France [17, 18, 25–27], Europe [27, 28], and the United States of America [25, 26]. The values are presented in **Table 2** OELVs are fixed for the purpose of helping employers to protect workers from occupational diseases and adverse health effects due to the exposure to hazardous chemicals within their job tasks.

In this study, we chose to select the most protective values among the explored ones.
