U.S. Navy personnel who work on submarines are in an enclosed
and isolated environment for days or weeks at a time when at
sea. Unlike a typical work environment, they are potentially
exposed to air contaminants 24 hours a day. To protect workers
from potential adverse health effects due to those conditions,
the U.S. Navy has established exposure guidance levels for a
number of contaminants. The Navy asked a subcommittee of the
National Research Council (NRC) to review, and develop when
necessary, exposure guidance levels for 10 contaminants.
Overall, the subcommittee found the values proposed by the Navy
to be suitable for protecting human health. For a few chemicals,
the committee proposed levels that were lower than those
proposed by the Navy. In conducting its evaluation, the
subcommittee found that there is little exposure data available
on the submarine environment and echoed a previous
recommendation from an earlier NRC report to conduct monitoring
that would provide a complete analysis of submarine ai