The impact of initial job assignment on formaldehyde exposure among African-American and white formaldehyde industry workers.

We compared initial job assignments of African-American and white employees at eight worksites that used formaldehyde between 1940 and 1979. Unexposed workers were excluded. Median, ambient air formaldehyde, 8-hour, time-weighted average (TWA8) exposure estimates were determined for each worksite. Job assignments with TWAs above the worksite's median TWA8 were called high formaldehyde exposed (HFE). Job assignments with TWAs less than or equal to the worksite's median TWA8 for the same period were called lower formaldehyde exposed (LFE). Two worksites assigned black workers to HFE jobs in significantly higher proportions than white workers in some decades. One worksite assigned white workers in significantly higher proportions than black workers to HFE jobs in some decades. One worksite assigned racial groups in nearly equal proportions from 1940 to 1969. The remaining sites showed insignificant assignment disproportions (alpha = 0.05; Chi-square < or = 3.841, 1 degree of freedom) for any period. No major trend was apparent across all plants and decades.