Industrial Hygiene in Construction

Most welders wear ear plugs. Why? Because of noise, sure, but also because of slag entering into their ear canal and harming the ear drum.

The average noise levels can vary throughout the day – depending on the project. During the day of this survey, welders were tacking and fabricating stairs and handrails. However, their typical business is large tanks. Do you think the noise levels might vary depending on what they’re making? I do.

I’d also bet that air monitoring during these events would vary. If the welder is inside a large tank performing welding for a few hours, I’d worry about more than just welding fumes. (some might be: welding gases displacing oxygen, electrical hazards, heat exposure, UV, and also the welding metal and rods).

Be safe out there!

By definition, “if you work around, or near asbestos”.  Which leads to:

When do I work around it?

• Answer: Buildings build before 1985 (some say 1980) might have it.

How do I know if I’m working around it?

• Answer: Any structure build before 1985 must have an asbestos building survey performed and the contractor have a copy of it on hand. (and while the inspector is onsite they might as well check for lead (Pb)).

So what type of training do I need?

• Answer: It depends. Either Class III or Class IV Training is required by OSHA (see earlier post).

We subcontract any asbestos work, and typically it’s already abated before we arrive onsite. Do we still need training?

• Answer: Yes. OSHA does not define any training shorter (less involved) than Class IV (which is 2 hours). And, what I commonly see is that employers don’t train their employees, they find asbestos, disturb it and then get in trouble.

Any advice for how our company can avoid getting in these situations?

• Answer: Train your office staff before you actually train your hands-on employees. If your estimators, project managers, superintendents and vice presidents know what to look for before bidding a job, then everyone has time to prepare and get the proper surveys, documentation, assistance, and training.

I attended a great session at an Industrial Hygiene Expo and Conference. Nowadays anyone with internet can find these useful apps, but it sure was nice to just sit there and watch them explain what they liked/disliked about each smart phone application.

Here are my top “useful”picks (mostly from their list). I like the free ones…Disclaimer: I didn’t develop these, nor have I loaded them all, or attempted to use them. 

1. Chemical Compatibility Database – might be really handy, if you remember to use it before you mix those chemicals
2. Lightmeter – I can see this one being really useful on those dark construction sites
3. IH Dig – if you r one- you gotta have this game
4. Converter Plus – mg/m3 to ppm, etc.
5. Cargo Decoder – all those DOT placard trucks running down the road- now you  know to be scared of
6. Time Calculator – allows you to add time(s) easier
7. Sound Level Meter – yep. and it works. Well, probably not in court.
8. Velometer – I can’t really tell you how it works, or if it’s accurate, but it might help sometime
9. Floor Plans (on the fly) – if you need a scale or a floor plan from a picture on your phone
10. Translators – these are really handy if you’re not fluent