subject: Industrial Hygiene Air Sampling [print this page] Hi, Steve Sleeper here for AMI Environmental where we make environmental problems go away. I'm with Doug Marshall who's an Industrial Hygienist with AMI Environmental and we're talking about industrial hygiene air sampling.
Doug why would someone want you to do air sampling and what do you do?
[Doug] When we begin an exposure assessment, we look at the employers MSDS sheets. We're looking at their work flow and the frequency of exposure for employees. We're also looking at the risk involved in being exposed to a hazardous chemical.
It's not always about mandating air sampling. If there are proper engineering controls in place, sometimes you can rule it out. In the event you can't or just want to establish a baseline; that's when we'll go in and help our clients do air sampling or chemical exposure assessments. That involves outfitting a person with the sampling pump.
We collect for a certain period of time, usually over the person's shift. We're looking for an 8 hour time waited average which is the OSHA standard for permissible exposure limits. We give that information to our clients and help them determine the risk and whats accepted in their workplace.
[Steve] So it's about consulting with the customer, finding out the real issues (whatever they may be) and then coming up with a plan thats in based on reality. Is that a fair observation on my part?
[Doug] Very much so. We have to approach this practically and realistically. We're not there to waste money on sampling. Were there to take enough samples to provide a representation of people who work in that exposure group. Then we take it back and look at those exposures. We may recommend more sampling, or we may say - it appears the exposure group doesn't have an exposure that's going to exceed 25% of the PEL, permissible exposure limit.
Thanks, Doug. For a free consultation call 800-828-8487. Industrial Hygiene Air Sampling
