{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T20:03:37Z","timestamp":1792008217834,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,15]],"date-time":"2021-04-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1618444800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004704","name":"The National Research Council of Thailand","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["NRCT610007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRCT610007"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004704","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Vaporization of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) compounds pollutes the air and causes health hazards at gasoline stations. This study revealed the risk of BTEX exposure according to the hazardous area classification at gasoline stations. The risk assessment of gasoline workers from a representative group of 47 stations, which followed the United States Environmental Protection Agency-IRIS method of assessing BTEX exposure, was expressed as the hazard index (HI). A result of matrix multipliers of the hazardous exposure index and fire possibility from flammable gas classified hazardous area-I and area-II at the fuel dispensers. BTEX concentrations were actively sampled in ambient air and a flammable gas detector was used to measure the flammability level. Results showed that the BTEX concentrations from ambient air monitoring were in the range of 0.1\u2013136.9, 8.1\u2013406.0, 0.8\u201324.1 and 0.4\u2013105.5 ppb for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, respectively, which exceeded the NIOSH exposure limit of 100 ppb of benzene concentration. The risk assessment indicated that five stations reached an unacceptable risk of worker exposure to BTEX (HI&gt;1), which correlated with the numbers of gasoline dispensers and daily gasoline sold. The risk matrix classified hazardous area-I at 4 meters and hazardous area-II at 4\u20138 meters in radius around the fuel dispensers. This study revealed the hazardous areas at gasoline stations and suggests that entrepreneurs must strictly control the safety operation practice of workers, install vapor recovery systems on dispenser nozzles to control BTEX vaporization and keep the hazardous areas clear of fire ignition sources within an eight-meter radius of the dispensers.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0249913","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,16]],"date-time":"2021-04-16T03:37:18Z","timestamp":1618544238000},"page":"e0249913","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Risk assessment of workers\u2019 exposure to BTEX and hazardous area classification at gasoline stations"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4190-4930","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sunisa","family":"Chaiklieng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0249913.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4567","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-18-4567-2018","article-title":"Monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from an oil and gas stations in Northwest China for 1 year","volume":"18","author":"H Zheng","year":"2018","journal-title":"Atmos Chem Phys"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2013.11.002","article-title":"Trends in the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from light-duty gasoline vehicles tested on chassis dynamometers in southern California","volume":"83","author":"Y Pang","year":"2014","journal-title":"Atmospheric Environment"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref003","volume-title":"Division of Toxicology and Human Health Science","author":"Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)","year":"2015"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref004","volume-title":"Division of Toxicology and Human Health Science","author":"Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)","year":"2010"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2545","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph16142545","article-title":"Risk assessment on benzene exposure among gasoline stations workers","volume":"16","author":"S Chaiklieng","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int J Environ Res Public Health"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0249913.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2036","DOI":"10.5958\/0976-5506.2019.03901.9","article-title":"Risk assessment on BTEX exposure at fuel storage tank area in gasoline station","volume":"10","author":"T Dacherngkhao","year":"2019","journal-title":"IJPHRD"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref007","first-page":"117","article-title":"Occupational exposure of gasoline station workers to BTEX compounds in Bangkok, Thailand","volume":"3","author":"T Tunsaringkarn","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int J Occup Environ Med"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1424","DOI":"10.1080\/10807039.2012.685814","article-title":"Health risk assessment of petrol station workers in the inner city of Bangkok, Thailand, to the exposure to BTEX and carbonyl compounds by inhalation","volume":"19","author":"M Kitwattanavong","year":"2013","journal-title":"Hum Ecol Risk Assessment"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref009","first-page":"237","article-title":"BTEX compositions and its potential health impacts in Malaysia","author":"MT Latif","year":"2019","journal-title":"Chemosphere"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1922","DOI":"10.4209\/aaqr.2019.11.0574","article-title":"BTEX Exposure assessment and inhalation health risks to traffic policemen in the klang valley region, Malaysia","volume":"20","author":"NFM Fandi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Aerosol and Air Quality Research"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"37","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apcbee.2014.10.011","article-title":"Temporal variation of BTEX at the area of petrol station in Bangkok, Thailand","volume":"10","author":"P Rattanajongjitrakorn","year":"2014","journal-title":"APCBEE Procedia"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0249913.ref012","first-page":"56","article-title":"Assessment of benzene exposure in the working environment at gasoline stations","volume":"8","author":"S Chaiklieng","year":"2015","journal-title":"EnvironmentAsia"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163","DOI":"10.5094\/APR.2012.016","article-title":"The impact of BTEX emissions from gas stations into the atmosphere","volume":"3","author":"SM Correa","year":"2012","journal-title":"Atmos Pollut Res"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"670","DOI":"10.4236\/jep.2016.75060","article-title":"Seasonal and spatial variation of BTEX in ambient air of Delhi","volume":"7","author":"R Singh","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Environ Protection"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref015","first-page":"241","article-title":"Health symptoms associated with occupational exposure of gasoline station workers to BTEX compounds","author":"M Al-Harbi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Atmospheric Environment"},{"key":"pone.0249913.ref016","unstructured":"Department of Energy Business, Ministry of Energy, Thailand. 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