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. 2025 Mar 15;69(3):261-272.
doi: 10.1093/annweh/wxae102.

Occupational health of drilling waste workers as related to microbial exposure and waste treatment methods

Elke Eriksen  1 , Hanne Line Daae  1 , Anani Komlavi Afanou  1 , Anne Mette Madsen  2 , Pål Graff  1
Affiliations

Occupational health of drilling waste workers as related to microbial exposure and waste treatment methods

Elke Eriksen et al. Ann Work Expo Health. .

Abstract

Objectives: Exposure to microorganisms is a known contributor to occupational disease. This study assessed drilling waste workers' health status and investigated the potential of inhalable bioaerosols to elicit an immune response in vitro and in vivo.

Methods: Venous blood and self-reported health data were collected from 56 and 73 Norwegian drilling waste workers, respectively. Immunological effects were assessed as Toll-like receptor (TLR) activation potential of personal air samples in vitro and biomarker expression in workers' plasma samples in vivo. Parameters, such as BMI, sex, and smoking habits, were considered along with factors such as purification technology of drilling waste when biomarker expression was interpreted. Symptom prevalence among exposed workers was compared to an unexposed control group.

Results: Personal air samples activated TLR signalling in vitro in 90% of all cases. The activation potential correlated significantly with work exposure to microbial agents and total dust. Significant differences in biomarker expression and symptom prevalence were identified between purification technologies and exposure groups. Drilling waste workers had significantly increased OR of skin irritation and respiratory symptoms compared to the control group.

Conclusions: Exposure to microorganisms during the treatment of offshore drilling waste is an occupational health concern.

Keywords: biomarkers; drilling waste; microorganisms; occupational health; toll-like receptors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Cell activation potential of personal dust samples collected at drilling waste plants. TLR2 activation (A) and TLR4 activation (B) in HEK reporter cell lines in comparison to parental HEK null cells. Resoil: plant 1 & 7, CB: plant 2, TCC: plant 3 & 6, FBC: plant 4, TCC/WOSS: plant 5.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Correlation matrix of exposure measurements endotoxins, total dust, biofilm formation and bacterial and fungal CFU concentrations and TLR activation potential of personal air samples in an in vitro assay. Upper right corner: Pearson correlation coefficient, strength of correlation indicated in colour gradient; lower left corner: BH-corrected P values indicated by colour gradient and significance by asterisk. Significance levels: *** 0.001, ** 0.01, * 0.05.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Comparison of symptom prevalence between exposed drilling waste workers (red bars) and a control group (yellow bars). Significant differences (<0.05) in symptom prevalence are indicated with asterisk, borderline significance (0.05 to 0.1) indicated with °.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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