7.2 Assessment of Health Risks

Question 1

Is the following statement true or false…Monitoring is not necessary if it is immediately obvious that exposure is being adequately controlled; and monitoring is not appropriate unless a reliable, effective monitoring technique is available

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Give an example of when monitoring of a hazardous substance would be necessary.

Answer 2

 When failure of control measures could result in a serious health effect;  To demonstrate that a WEL is not being exceeded;  As an additional check on the effectiveness of control measures; and  When changes in work occur that could affect employees’ exposure (e.g. increase in quantity of a substance used; new systems of work or new plant).

Question 3

What are designed to measure the specific exposure of an individual by taking air from the workers ‘breathing zone’?

Answer 3

personal samplers

Question 4

What is positioned in the workplace and provides a measure of general workplace airborne contamination over time?

Answer 4

static (environmental) samplers

Question 5

What type of sampling equipment (direct or indirect) gives an immediate, in-situ reading; and includes stain detector tubes and more sophisticated equipment such infra-red analysers (spectrophotometers).

Answer 5

Direct

Question 6

What type of sampling equipment (direct or indirect) requires a sample to be taken to a laboratory for analysis.

Answer 6

Indirect

Question 7

Air may be sampled passively or actively. Which type of sampling techniques allow air to diffuse over the sampling head which may be a badge, impinger / bubbler or dosimeter tube.

Answer 7

Passive air sampling

Question 8

Air may be sampled passively or actively. Which type of sampling uses a calibrated air pump to draw a known volume of air over the reagent over a known period of time.

Answer 8

Active sampling