Indoor pollution of funeral homes and potential health risk of workers: A case study in central China

Funeral services play a vital role in the social fabric, yet the pollutants and occupational exposures in the indoor environment of funeral homes remain unknown. To address this gap, this study conducted a comprehensive screening of pollutants, including organic and inorganic chemicals, as well as bacteria, in the dressing-morgue and cremation room of a funeral home in Changsha. It was found that 151 VOCs and 29 SVOCs were detected in the dressing-morgue, while 129 VOCs and 38 SVOCs in the cremation room. Notably, these organic chemicals demonstrated saturation levels (double bond equivalent (DBE) = 3.3-3.4) that fell between outdoor air chemicals (DBE = 7.3) and those released from corpses (DBE = 1.5). In the dressing-morgue and cremation room, 4 and 3 chemicals posed a non-cancer risk (HQ) above the safety threshold (1.0), respectively; and 8 and 6 chemicals posed an incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) above the safety threshold (1.0 x 10-6), respectively. In the dressing-morgue, the highest HQ and ILCR were 145.0 (Acrolein) and 1.2 x 10-4 (Cobalt), respectively; while in the cremation room, there were 65.0 (Acrolein) and 2.0 x 10-5 (1,2-Dibromoethane), respectively. In terms of bacteria, Alpha and Beta diversity analysis indicated that airborne bacterial community in both workspaces were highly similar, while surface-adhered bacteria displayed higher diversity. In both workspaces, Bacteroides was the predominant airborne pathogenic genus. These findings present the first disclosure of pollution conditions in funeral homes, aiming to raise societal awareness about the occupational exposure and to motivate the development of evidence-based solutions.