(in German)

Workers may be exposed to diesel particulate matter and gaseous exhaust components in garages for fire-fighting vehicles and emergency rescue service. According to the Technical Rule for Hazardous Substances TRGS 554 appropriate protective measures are required to decrease workers’ exposure. Substantially, this includes modern low-pollutant engines and exhaust gas treatment, and on the other side ventilation and exhaust extraction direct at the exhaust pipe. Because the garages and the fleet of vehicles cover a wide range of technical ventilation and emission standards the effectiveness of these protective measures has been compared using measurements. The results show, that exposure to carcinogenic diesel particulate matter decreases for modern diesel engines. The exposure to oxides of nitrogen, especially nitric oxide, shows an opposing trend. Exhaust extraction direct at the exhaust pipe when the engine is running, but also during running-in and getting-out of the vehicles is the most effective measure to decrease exposure to the dominating diesel particulate matter of older vehicles and for the more relevant nitric oxide of newer ones.

Please download the article "Exposure to diesel exhaust emission in garages for fire-fighting vehicles and emergency rescue service - Comparison of effectiveness of protective measures" (in German only).