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An outbreak of bitumen induced phototoxicity among dockyard workers was examined. At least 28 employees at the Naval Dockyard at Plymouth, United Kingdom developed cutaneous and ocular photosensitivity reactions of varying severity during a 2 to 3 day period in April 1992. They had been engaged in shotblasting a gate in a dry dock that had been previously painted with a bitumen containing 'hotblack' paint. No problems occurred during the actual shotblasting operation as the workers had worn appropriate protective clothing and equipment. The skin and eye symptoms developed when the scaffolding equipment was dismantled and the dry dock was cleaned. Both the scaffolding and dry dock had been contaminated with bitumen containing dusts. All workers became covered with fine dusts and some began developing irritation and soreness on light and dust exposed skin within 3 hours after starting their shifts. Fifteen of the 28 workers developed ocular symptoms primarily photophobia and conjunctival irritation. The cutaneous and ocular symptoms cleared after 7 to 10 days. Evaluations performed 3 to 4 months later showed no permanent sequelae. Six of the 28 affected workers were atopic. The severity of symptoms in this group, however, was no worse than in the nonatopic workers. The author concludes that this outbreak emphasizes the fact that total protection (skin, eye, and respiratory) must be provided for persons working in bitumen contaminated environments.
Contact Dermatitis, 35(3):188-189, 1996. (2 references)
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