Introduction to Industrial Hygiene Flashcards
Other term for walkthrough
Initial field survey
Involves knowledge and understanding of the several types of workplace environmental stresses and its effects on the health of the workers
Anticipation of hazards
Types of safety hazards
1 Unsafe acts
2 Unsafe conditions
It is the likelihood that the harm from a particular hazard is not realized.
Safety
Examples of chemical hazards
1 Excessive airborne concentration of mists, vapors, gases or solide in the form of dusts and fumes
Classification of occupational hazards
1 Health hazards
2 Safety hazards
Types of health hazards
1 Chemical hazards
2 Physical hazards
3 Ergonomic hazards
4 Biological hazards
Requirements for the recognition of hazards
1 Materials
2 Operations
3 Processes
4 Conditions
Examples of physical hazards
1 Excessive levels of non-ionizing radiation 2 Ionizing radiation 3 Noise 4 Vibration 5 Extremes of temperature 6 Extremes of pressure 7 Ventilation issues
Microorganisms or macroorganisms
Biological hazards
Improperly designed tools, work areas or work procedures and organizational issues in the workplace
Ergonomic hazards
Actual appreciation of the hazards in the workplace under investigation
Recognition of hazards
It is anything that has the potential to cause harm
Hazard
T or F. Scope of industrial hygiene activities encompass the cradle-to-grave concept
T
Combination of observation, interview, and measurement that permits a judgment to be made relative to the potential hazards and the adequacy of protection for the employees
Monitoring of hazards
Principles of Industrial Hygiene
1 Anticipation
2 Recognition
3 Evaluation
4 Control
Ways to recognize hazards
1 Walkthrough
2 Use of checklists
3 The Material Safety and Data Sheet
Recognition of hazards using senses except sense of taste
Walkthrough
What is industrial hygiene?
Science and art of anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control of those workplace environmental factors which may cause sickness, impaired health and well being, or significant discomfort and inefficiency among workers or among citizens of the community
Major activity to recognize hazards
Walkthrough
Follows flow of materials into, through, and out of the facility
Walkthrough
Requirements for walkthrough
1 Should include non-product areas such as maintenance and other service operations
2 Should be conducted with the facility or process manager
Overall process or operation
1 Review storage of raw materials and finished products
2 List levels of physical agents normally present
3 List the background airborne concentration levels in the workroom that would usually be present as a function of time
4 List the conditions necessary for the agent to be released into the workroom atmosphere
5 Consider transport and disposal
6 Review electrical and fire safety
Industrial hygienist
- Scientists, engineers, and public health professionals committed to protecting the health of people in the workplace and in the community
- Must be competent in a variety of scientific fields
- Trained initially in one of the mentioned fields (chemistry, physics, engineering, biology, toxicology, occupational medicine)
- Sanitary inspectors who are practicing industrial hygiene in the community are not capable because they are not formally trained and equipment is lacking
Can extend beyond biological monitoring of individuals to incorporate screening of exposed populations for the adverse effects of those exposures
Medical surveillance
Prime source of information on the hazardous properties of chemical products
Material safety and data sheet
May irritate the skin or be absorbed and manifest systemic effects
Chemical hazards
Equipment
1 List the equipment that could release hazardous levels of physical agents during normal operations or abnormal situations
2 List process equipment with components that are likely to fail due to corrosion or leak of hazardous materials such as valves, pump packing, and tank vents
3 List the equipment that can produce hazardous concentrations of airborne contaminants and the control measures administered
4 Label all chemical containers, transport vessels, and piping systems
5 Ensure that all equipment can be correctly locked out and tagged out during necessary procedures
Determining the levels of physical and chemical agents arising out of a process to study the related work procedures
Evaluation of hazards
Specific information on the material safety and data sheet
1 Name and address of the manufacturer 2 Hazardous ingredients 3 Physical and chemical characteristics 4 Fire and explosion hazard data 5 Reactivity data 6 Health hazards 7 Safe handling and use 8 Control measures
Used to establish usual background concentrations for chemicals that are ubiquitous in the environment
Area monitoring
Requires a literature review of the industry in question or the type of operation being done
Anticipation of hazards
Where is the measurement device placed in area monitoring?
Adjacent to a worker’s normal workstation
Includes hazard recognition and work practices specific to employee’s job
Administrative
Requires provision of material safety and data sheet by all chemical manufacturers and importers
OSHA Hazard Communication Standard
Where is the measurement device placed in personal monitoring?
As close as possible to the contaminants’ route of entry
It is the likelihood that the harm from a particular hazard is realized
Risk
Other term for area monitoring
Environmental monitoring
Measurement device in monitoring hazards
Dosimeter
Three categories of biological monitoring
1 Measurement of the contaminant itself
2 Measurement of a metabolite of the chemical
3 Measurement of enzymes or functions that reflect harm caused by a hazardous exposure
Characterization of the hazard exposure
1 Intensity
2 Duration and frequency
3 Comparison with regulatory (DOLE), professional (ACGIH), and internal standards (company standards)
Function of biological monitoring
Used to assess workers’ total exposure to chemicals to provide information about the impact of workplace hazards on health
Instruments in sampling
1 Light meter
2 Anemometer
3 Thermometer
4 Detector tube
Worn by employees to protect them from their environment and surrounding hazards
Personal Protective Equipment
For wind speed and ventilation issues
Anemometer
Primarily physical examination
Medical surveillance
Exposure is measured in terms of the ambient air concentration of a particular substance in a given area at a given period of time
Area monitoring
Functions of industrial hygiene
1 Direct the industrial hygiene program
2 Examine the work environment
3 Interpret results of the examination of the environment and present specific conclusions to appropriate parties
4 Make specific decisions as to the need for or effectiveness of control measures and, when necessary, advise suitable and effective procedures
5 Prepare rules, regulations, standards, and procedures for the healthful conduct of work and the prevention of nuisance in the community
6 Present expert testimony
7 Prepare appropriate text for labels and precautionary information for materials and products to be used by workers and the public
8 Conduct programs for the education of workers and the public in the prevention of occupational disease and community nuisance
9 Conduct epidemiological studies of workers and industries to discover the presence of occupational disease and establish or improve Threshold Limit Values or standards for the maintenance of health and efficiency
10 Conduct research to advance knowledge concerning the effects of occupation on health and means of preventing occupational health impairment, community air pollution, noise, nuisance and related problems
Measurement of a particular employee’s exposure to airborne contaminants and, in theory, reflects actual exposure to the employee
Personal monitoring
Checklist
1 Overall process or operation
2 Equipment
3 Cleaning methods
Approaches of sampling
1 Measuring the worst case
2 Capturing the typical conditions
What is short-term exposure limit?
It is the concentration to which it is believed workers can be exposed continuously for a short period of time without suffering from
1 Irritation
2 Chronic or irreversible tissue damage
3 Narcosis of sufficient degree
Use of a light meter
Illumination
Methods of control
1 Elimination 2 Substitution 3 Engineering 4 Administrative 5 Personal Protective Equipment
What does sampling determine?
1 Intensity of exposure
2 Source of the hazards
3 Adequacy of controls
Indications for PPE use
1 Emergencies
2 Engineering and administrative controls are not yet present
For chemical agents
Detector tube
Considerations in sampling
1 Sources of error
2 Desired precision and accuracy of measurements
3 Degree of confidence needed for interpretation of results
4 What and how to sample 5 Where to sample 6 Whom to sample 7 When to sample 8 How long to sample 9 What to note during sampling 10 How many samples to take 11 When to stop monitoring 12 Who should conduct sampling
Categories of threshold limit values
1 Time-Weighted Average (TLV-tpTWA)
2 Short-term exposure limit (TLV-STEL)
3 Ceiling (TLV-C)
Other limit values by ACGIH
1 Limits of physical agents
2 Biological exposure indices
What is control?
Reduction of the environmental stresses to values that the worker can tolerate without impairment of health or productivity
Examples of administrative method of control
1 Scheduling
2 Reduced work time in contaminated areas
3 Good work practices
4 Employee training
Application of substitution, isolation or ventilation
Engineering
What is time-weighted average?
Concentration for a conventional eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek to which it is believed that nearly all workers may be repeatedly exposed, day after day, without adverse effects
Why is PPE not the recommended control?
1 Costly
2 Exposure is still present
Methods of control at Zone 1
1 Substitution with a less harmful material
2 Change of process (airless paint spraying)
3 Enclosure of process (glove-box)
4 Isolation of process (space or time)
5 Wet methods (hydroblast)
6 Local exhaust ventilation (capture at source)
7 Adequate maintenance program
Ideal set-up
Elimination
Opportunities for control
Zones
1
2
3
Exposure guidelines established for airborne concentrations of many chemical compounds
ACGIH TLV
Generalized diagram of methods of control
(Review)
Zone 1
Source
Zone 3
Receiver
Zone 2
Transmission
Methods of control at air path
1 Housekeeping
2 General exhaust ventilation (roof fans)
3 Dilution ventilation (supplied air)
4 Increase distance between source and receiver (semi-automatic or remote control)
5 Continuous area monitoring (pre-set alarms)
6 Adequate maintenance program
Threshold limit values
1 For some substances, only one category is significant
2 For other substances, two or three categories may be relevant depending on their physiological action
3 If any of these three is exceeded, a potential hazard from that substance is presumed to exist
ACGIH
American Conference Governmental Industrial Hygienists
Other information on material safety and data sheet
Labeling
Transport
Toxicity
Regulatory requirements
Monitoring that determines measures specific to the employee
Personal monitoring
Category for irritant gases
TLV-C
Concentration that should not be exceeded during any part of the working exposure
Ceiling (TLV-C)
Control at the receiver
1 Training and education 2 Rotation of workers 3 Enclosure of workers 4 Personal monitoring devices 5 Personal protective devices 6 Adequate maintenance program
