Increasing Occupational Illness

You are the Safety Professional and you get a frantic call. It’s the safety officer at one of your satellite manufacturing plants. “An unusually high number of workers are complaining of dizziness and nausea. Lost sick days are dramatically higher and the complaints are flooding the nursing office.” Various operations at the plant include thermo injection molding, brazing, soldering, potting, wave less soldering, and various assembly operations.

What Do You Say? What Do You Do?

Your adrenaline and thought processes kick in. First thing, do the initial walkthrough so that you can characterize the workplace. Observe work operations, processes, equipment, and controls, including shop diagrams. Review previous industrial hygiene surveys and monitoring reports. Determine who are the affected workers, locations, and their work tasks. Worker observations can be best served by completing a plant specific checklist regarding symptoms, task, and timing.

Analyze Exposures

A qualitative exposure assessment will help determine chemical, biological, and physical stressors whether the possibility is one or a combination of chemical, dust, noise, light, environmental, or other. The material assessment of chemicals and processes will shed light on how workers interact and whether it’s direct exposure, incidental exposure, and exposure to processing derivatives.

Engineering Controls

Observe and evaluate the types of engineering controls used in the affected workspaces. Controls include general ventilation, local exhaust ventilation, and administrative controls. Observe the use of personal protective equipment. Is there a personal protection program in place? Is it effective?

Thermoanemometers are useful for taking velocity measurements inside ducts, lab hood face velocities, and local exhaust hood evaluations.

Measurement

Direct reading gas instruments (DRIs) are a good way of getting quick answers. DRIs include response time, drift, specificity, and interferences. Photo or flame ionization detectors are useful for determining if there is a volatile organic compound (VOC) possibility. Both of these instruments will provide a picture of total VOCs, however, NIOSH air sampling and analytical techniques are more sensitive and specific. Other DRIs specific to carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, and acid gases are single or multigas gas detectors. NIOSH Air Sampling and Analytical Techniques.

Media sampling for airborne chemicals and dusts are more sensitive and specific compared to DRIs. The major drawback is that you cannot get instant answers. By drawing in air through charcoal, silica gel, filters, and other specific media, and sending to a lab for analysis, a specific agent can be targeted and accurate data collected. The chemical or dust data can be compared to OSHA PELs, toxicological references, the ACGIH TLVs, or epidemiological studies.

Excessive Noise in the Workplace

Sound in excess of 85dBA mandates inclusion in a hearing conservation program. The OSHA permissible exposure limit mandates that workers not be exposed above 90dBA in an eight-hour workday. Sound level meters and noise dosimeters are useful if you believe that noise is part of the problem. Generally, a grid survey of the plant is done, affected workers are selected for noise dosimetery, and the eight-hour time weighted average is compared to the OSHA permissible exposure limit and action level.

Adequate Lighting

A light survey may be warranted for assembly workers working on small parts,especially if it does not seem bright enough to do the work or when workers are complaining of headaches.

Heat and Humidity

If temperature and relative humidity are too high, workers suffer from heat exhaustion, stroke, and other medical conditions. Uncomfortable work environments from heat stress can be controlled by administrative controls or by adjusting the HVAC system.

Other Factors

An entire realm of other physical, biological, and chemical stressors exists in the workplace. Mold spores or biting insects are possibilities. Radiation may be part of the work place. We did not cover the full list. It is up to a well-seasoned safety professional to cover all of the possibilities.

Conclusion of the Initial Visit

Upon conclusion of the initial visit, a final report with recommendations can be made. It is expected that the information collected on the first visit may not be conclusive; however, recommendations for more specific targets can be planned. The first priority is to keep people safe and the initial results may call for immediate action.

Rely upon EGas Depot to assist you with our broad range of products … from Dwyer ventilation measuring equipment to Casella dust monitors, sound level meters, and heat stress monitors … because the safety of your people is important to us. And of course, you can rely upon our wide variety of calibration gases that are available for you too.