Investigation on health status of workers exposed to gasoline in a petroleum refining company

Objective The health status of employees exposed to gasoline was evaluated to reveal the association between health damage of the workers and the exposed occupational hazards. Methods The data of occupational health examinations of 902 workers exposed to gasoline was compared with that of 1 057 workers without any known occupational exposure in a petroleum refining company. Results The exposed female workers had higher abnormality of white cell counts compared with control workers (χ²=4.48,P < 0.05),and multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the gasoline exposure was a risk factor for the reduced abnormal white cell counts in the female workers(OR=2.56,95% CI:1.04-6.29). Hemoglobin(Hb) in female workers exposed to gasoline was obviously lower than that in control workers(t=-3.18,P < 0.01). Conclusion In the current manufacturing condition,gasoline exposure may cause leukocytopenia among the female employees. In order to protect the health of the workers,company should improve working environment and arrange regular occupational health examination for the gasoline-exposed workers.