A wide range of office and electronics, equipment and consumables contains perfluorinated compound (PFCs) as components or finishing, because of their high thermal stability and water/oil repelling characteristics arising from the very strong carbon-fluorine bonds. Office workers may therefore be at risk as a result of exposure to PFCs in the office environment. This study investigates the concentration levels of perfluoroctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctane acid (PFOA) in office dust collected from two institution of higher learning in Cape Town, South Africa, in order to evaluate the likelihood of human and environmental exposure and their potential impact. Office dust samples were randomly collected from some offices in all the faculties available in each of the two institutions. Perfluoroctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctane acid (PFOA) were recovered from the samples using Solid Phase extraction (SPE) method on hydrophilic-lipophilic balance cartridges. The samples were cleaned up according to standard method, and analysed for PFOS and PFOA using Liquid Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS). The levels of PFOS and PFOA detected in the office dusts were variable. The concentration of PFOA in the office dust ranged between 0.026 and 0.097 �g/kg, while PFOS ranged 0.035 and 0.162 �g/kg (Table 1).Table 1: Concentrations of PFOS and PFOA in office dusts collected from two institutionsThe presence of PFOS and PFOA in all samples may not be unconnected with their stabilization in the settled dust. There were strong positive correlation between the tonnage of use of some office consumables with the concentrations of PFOS and PFOA, with activity busy offices showing higher concentrations compared with lighter activities. The concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were lower than the 5 mg/kg/day, suggested as probable absorption threshold, thus office dust may not be a signi?cant source of exposure to PFCs for of?ce workers. However good sanitary practice may be considered to minimize exposure and consequently the associated health risk.

Concentrations and variation in levels of perfluoroctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctane acid (PFOA) in office dust

248th National Meeting (2014)

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