x2001 – Exposure Assessment in Epidemiology and Practice

This paper presents new equipment to investigate workers’ time activity patterns (TAP) in workenvironment. A real-time chemical sensor coupled with a data logger comprises the newelectronic time activity recorder (ETAR). TAP data obtained from traditional workers’ recalledquestionnaires, working schedule of the plant, and ETAR were compared with the goldenreference, direct observation. No statistical difference was found between the TAP dataobtained from ETAR and the direct observation. Linear regression showed close correlation forboth time blocks (R = 0.83, slope = 0.92, n = 108) and 8-h work shifts (R = 0.93, slope = 0.97,n = 27). On the other hand, very poor correlation was found for data obtained by othertraditional methods (R < 0.2). It was concluded that the new ETAR could provide a cheap,simple, real-time, fully automatic, and reliable information to accurately monitor workers’ TAPin work environment.