Industrial Hygiene in Construction

NIOSH has just recommended a new exposure limit (REL) for hexavalent chromium. The new limit is 0.2 ug/m3 as an 8-hour TWA. If you remember, the OSHA PEL is 2.5 ug/m3 (8-hour TWA). SO, if you’re good at math, you can see this is A LOT lower.

The reasoning for this level is they have found a lung cancer risk (get this) EVEN AT 0.2 ug/m3. They recommend bringing airborne levels below this limit for lung exposures.

As I’ve described before, exposures are not limited to just inhalation. Dermal contact is a big concern.

If you have any hexavalent chromium at your facility, or stainless steel (welding, welding2, hardfacing, etc.) you need to do more than just air sampling. You need a comprehensive program including wipe samples, medical monitoring, etc. This may not be a specific OSHA rule for your facility.  However, these exposures are something you must manage.

Many times an IH is called upon to determine the cause of a person’s ailing symptoms. For example, an employee might complain of congestion, irritability, bloody nose, etc. Someone has decided it might be from their exposure at work.

The practice of industrial hygiene is difficult to apply to an individual. What I mean is, this field of study was developed due to serious health concerns over a population of people at work. This is essentially how science works, you take a population, study it, find the differences, then make conclusions.

Trouble occurs when you try this backwards. If the same person (as example above) complains of congestion, irritability, bloody nose- can we assume they must have exposure to lead dust? Not usually. We must obtain other clues.

What industrial hygienists try to do in these instances is rule-out the possible over-exposures. Sometimes we can measure for chemical exposures to see if it might be of concern. But even then, it’s not fool proof. Below are a few issues which make it complicated.

• exposure at work? job? extracurricular activities? home?
• person might have autoimmune disease and gets sick easier
• sampling is not feasible
• sampling is somehow screwed up (by IH, lab, mail carrier)
• exposure is through food, clothing, etc.

Even with these fallacies, there are things an individual can do to narrow down their ailments:

• create a log. time, type of symptoms, pain scale, others experience/smell, food eaten
• change things and see if it improves/makes it worse
• research – but do it right. Look at the items you use, check the SDS

The Oregon GOSH (Govener’s Occupational Safety & Health) Conference is coming March 4-7, 2013. This is a great opportunity to get some information, education, and networking.

My suggestion is to attend the Tuesday and Wednesday sessions and cram-in as much as you are able. My break-out course is hidden well in the schedule, and will be easy to miss due to the other great sessions going at the same time. But, this is why I put a lot of my information on this website!

Hope to see you there.

There is a lot of confusion about N95 paper dust masks. And, it is confusing. The reason is because NIOSH has rated this type of equipment as a respirator. Prior to this, it was called a “comfort mask”. This name sounded better than calling it, “a worthless false sense of protection”. It is now called a, “dust mask”, or a “filtering face-piece”.

Here is what is required by OSHA if you wear this type of respirator (N95, or similar):

• Employees must read and sign Appendix D (of the OSHA respirator standard)
• Employees must clean, inspect, and store their dust mask

That’s it.

UNLESS you are wearing this because:

• Your employer requires it
• You have overexposures
• or, nobody “wouldn’t wear it”. (meaning: it’s an industry practice, and when when we do this XXX task, everyone wears this type of respirator– this is the same as your employer requiring it)

If  any of the above statements are true, then you have more to do. Here are links for more information:

Voluntary Use of respirators

Getting ready to wear a respirator

Professionally I do not recommend these type of respirators. Email me if you’d like to know why.

Hair growth for your ears! This type of hair growth is different than the hairs which grow longer as you get older… 

The problem with most types of hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other types of enhancements is that they only amplify the body’s ability to hear. I talked about a type of pill we someday might be able to take that helps, here.

Research has found a way to regrow the hairs in your ear…well, at this point, only in mice. But, in theory, you could put these hair growth cells in the part of your ear where you have the most damage…and, well, it might help!

The summary article is here. The original article is here. And, to nerd-out, here is the research paper.

You may have seen a product label which states that, “this product is known to cause cancer”…if used in California. (ha)

Proposition 65 is essentially a labeling rule. in 1986, California made a rule mandating anyone selling to California to label the product… if it had a serious health risk. This rule was above and beyond the OSHA reporting limit of 1%, like on a MSDS (henceforth called SDS, BTW).

The rule is actually good. It makes manufacturers tell you if there is anything hazardous in their product, or if they used anything hazardous when they made the product. (Side: If you haven’t heard, some manufacturers like to hide their ingredients, some say for proprietary reasons. Here’s an example)

More information about the rules is here. There is controversy over it’s usefulness (see here), but in this day in age, I believe you should be made aware of the information.

What usually happens is you find a SDS with no information about the product. Then, as you investigate, you find a “Proposition 65 warning”, indicating something about the product which, “may cause cancer”. So you ask, why does this happen? (more FAQ here) Well, the manufacturer used, or contains, something in their product that is hazardous. It can be a nice trail leading to chemicals which to sample for, or investigate.

If you have a building built pre 1985 (I know this date can be different, but I’m playing it safe) before bidding a project you need to have an asbestos survey performed, called a building inspection. Honestly, they usually aren’t done before bidding. SOMETIMES, they’re performed before starting the work (not good).

How do you find a good building inspector? …Google?, Yellow pages (who does that anymore?) Abatement contractor?

Whomever you hire, make sure they have a current AHERA Building Inspector Certificate. This is a Federal program maintained by TSCA Title II EPA AHERA/ASHARA Model Accreditation Program. This is your only recourse if something goes wrong. It doesn’t matter if have have a PhD, CIH, ROH, CSP and MBA, they MUST have a current AHERA Building Inspector Certificate.

Here are some things to consider:

• Does the Building Inspector have a current certificate?
• Will they sample for asbestos?
• Which lab will they use for analysis? Their own? (not always a bad thing)
• Which areas are they unable to access in the building?
• Will they check for leaded paint?
• Will they take pictures?
• How long till you will get the results & report?
• Will they write a report?
• Are they capable of performing air monitoring? (worth asking, but not a deal-breaker)
• Will they look back at previous records / management plans?
• Cost?

Good luck in your search. As most things, a good referral from a friend is probably a great starting spot.

Before you can wear a respirator here’s what has to happen:

If you’re an employer and your employees wear a respirator, they are required to have a medical approval (Appendix C of OSHA respiratory standard). more details here.

The employee fills out the confidential questionnaire and then submits it to the medical provider of the employer’s choice. 95% (I made that # up) of the time, based upon the questionnaire ONLY, they give an approval to wear a respirator.

Occasionally, some employees are requested to come into the medical office to have a spirometry test performed, which tests for lung function. (a video of how it is done, cool accent included) This tests provides more information for the physician/nurse to determine if wearing a respirator will be too difficult for an employee to wear.

The cost for either test is usually pretty close to the same price… spirometry test, or not.

Here’s my suggestion:  Have every employee perform a spirometry test before wearing a respirator. This helps to guarantee they are capable of wearing a respirator. Maybe they forgot to list a risk factor, maybe they have a hidden serious lung problem, or, maybe they lied on the questionnaire so they can wear a respirator and keep their job.?

It is also beneficial for pre-employment screening, claims defense, and for a baseline in health. The specific results are usually NOT view-able by the employer, but they can be subpoenaed.