![]() ![]() Although certain inferences can be made about exposure by considering the length of time an employee is in the area, the best indicator of a person's actual exposure comes from personal sampling since the sample is collected by equipment that is worn by the employee during the work day. The sampling is "personal" because it evaluates an individual employee's exposure to a chemical as opposed to area sampling that measures the concentration of a substance in a given area (e.g., the amount of carbon monoxide in a warehouse where gasoline-powered forklifts are being used). The type of sampling required by OSHA's substance-specific standards is called personal breathing zone sampling. A good starting point is reviewing the safety data sheets (SDS) of the suspected materials, reviewing the technical information, reviewing the work practice controls and engineering controls, as well as seeing if any occupational health illnesses have been noted and determining how many employees are performing the same operation to determine that you have a representative number of samples to make a determination of exposure risk. Both the ACGIH and NIOSH are recommended standards and OSHA is the regulatory standard that business and industry need to comply with.Īn air sampling strategy plan is a planning tool to determine how you’re going to sample and where the contaminants are used in the workplace. There are two other consensus best practice organizations that you need to consider when developing an air sampling plan, these are the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), the consensus best practices organization that established Threshold Limit Values® (TLV®) and another federal government agency, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) that establishes Recommended Exposure Limits (REL). The 1968 PELs were adopted by OSHA with the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has established standards, or Permissible Exposure Limits (PEL) for approximately 600 substances. ![]() Gasses, particulates and vapors are three types of contaminants that can be measured in the workplace, and there are many other applications that engineering controls, work practice and controls and the use of respirators can control what you breathe in the workplace. There are other expressions used that are unique to the physical attributes such as asbestos, which uses fibers per cubic centimeter (f/cc). Solvents typically release a vapor that can be harmful if inhaled in enough quantity.Ĭoncentration of gases, particulates and vapors are expressed in parts per million (PPM) or milligrams per cubic meter of air mg/m 3) of micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m 3).
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