Oberon Class Submarine Occupational Hygiene Project Final Report

120 µg/m 3 (0.03-0.04 ppm) respectively. The paper does not state the duration ofsamples or the locations where the samples were taken. In the paper Dean used 40ppm-years (0.5 – 6.6 additional leukemia cases per 1000 exposed workers) as thecumulative dose for the risk calculation.The paper identifies a potential exposure to benzene in relation to venting of outboarddiesel tanks inboard to allow for the increasing seawater pressure during diving.2. A recent study by Glass et al (2005) of the Australian petroleum workersfound a strong association between benzene and leukemia at exposure doses greaterthan the cumulative dose of 16 ppm-years.3. Severs & Sabiston (2000) reported levels of benzene in the range 87 – 249µg/m 3 (0.027 – 0.078 ppm) onboard HMCS Okanagan which is consistent with theresults reported by Dean (1996).4. As benzene is an ingredient of diesel fuel and diesel exhausts, Boffetta (2004)has reviewed the published epidemiological studies involving diesel exhausts toevaluate whether there is evidence to support that diesel exhaust exposure increasesthe risk of leukemia, and Acute Myeloid leukemia (AML) in particular. A total of 27studies and reports were considered. Studies covered a wide range of occupations andindustries. The conclusion was that available evidence did not support the hypothesisthat there was an association between diesel exhausts and risk of leukemia and AMLin particular.5. In a very recent paper (Kopstein (2006)) advised listing of benzene in MaterialSafety Data Sheets (MSDSs) be mandatory even if present as a trace contaminant (