Work and Health Country Profiles and National Surveillance Indicators in Occupational Health and Safety

A UV spectrophotometric procedure was validated for the determination of organic soluble matter in bitumen fumes collected by filtration technique. Ultrasonic extraction was carried out with toluene, an efficient extraction solvent for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, followed by UV absorbance measurements at 320 nm. A calibration curve is plotted from the same set of samples determined by classical weighing method. Further determinations can also be made using the slope factor of the calibration curve. The procedure presents obvious simplicity and rapidity advantages and is less prone to losses than the measurements of weight. Inter-method comparisons of samples collected from experimental laboratory-generated penetration bitumen fumes commonly used in road paving showed that the three available procedures - weighing, infrared, and UV described for the determination of organic soluble matter yield equivalent results.