Historical cohort study of US man-made vitreous fiber production workers: VIII. Exposure-specific job analysis

All jobs held by a cohort of US man-made vitreous fiber production workers were analyzed for airborne fiber exposure. This exposure-specfic job analysis was part of an exposure assessment for an epidemiologic study of mortality patterns, with particular focus on respiratory cancer, among 35,145 workers employed in 10 fiberglass and five rock or slag wool plants. The exposure assessment was conducted from the start vp date of each plant (1917 to 1946) to 1990. Far the job analysis, 15,465 crude department names and 47,693 crude job titles were grouped into 1668 unique department and job pairs (UDJobs), which represented a job title linked to a specific department within each plant. Every UDJob was evaluated according to a set of job elements related to airborne fiber exposure. The distribution of the cohort person-years by UDJob and the job-exposure elements was then. evaluated. The results show the main departments and jobs that employed. the workers for each plant. The distribution of person-years varies across the job-exposure elements. The same job title was used in different departments within and across plants. Wien job titles not linked to departments were evaluated, the values of the job-exposure elements varied considerably across all plants and within plant. In, conclusion: (1) exposure misclassification could. occur if job title alone were used far the exposure assessment; (2) the job-exposure elements analysis provides an efficient way to identify major job determinants of exposure without relying on the more detailed, resource-intensive task-based approach; and (3) the evaluation of the cohort, person-years by UDJobs and job-exposure elements is an effective way to identify which plants, departments, and jobs have sufficient information far making precise risk estimates in the broader epidemiologic study.