Industrial Hygiene and Analytical Chemistry

The publications of American Cyanamid investigators included instrumental analysis of chemicals in the industrial environment, including two-component mixtures of nitrobenzene and aniline that were of value in industrial hygiene investigations. Details of this absorbance-ratio method were presented at the 4th Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy held in March 1953114. 

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), research institutes, and academic and industrial laboratories have contributed to developing analytical methods, many of which are discussed in this book. We hope that this discussion will provide a helpful review for active practitioners of industrial hygiene chemistry and will be a source book for those entering the field. 

Frequently industrial hygiene analyses require the identification of unknown sample components. One of the most widely employed methods for this purpose is coupled gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry (GC/MS). With respect to interface with mass spectrometry, HPLC presently suffers a disadvantage in comparison to GC because instrumentation for routine application of HPLC/MS techniques is not available in many analytical chemistry laboratories (3). It is, however, anticipated that HPLC/MS systems will be more readily available in the future ( 5, 6, 1, 8). HPLC will then become an even more powerful analytical tool for use in occupational health chemistry. It is also important to note that conventional HPLC is presently adaptable to effective compound identification procedures other than direct mass spectrometry interface. These include relatively simple procedures for the recovery of sample components from column eluate as well as stop-flow techniques. Following recovery, a separated sample component may be subjected to, for example, direct probe mass spectrometry infra-red (IR), ultraviolet (UV), and visible spectrophotometry and fluorescence spectroscopy. The stopped flow technique may be used to obtain a fluorescence or a UV absorbance spectrum of a particular component as it elutes from the column. Such spectra can frequently be used to determine specific properties of the component for assistance in compound identification (9). 

The data collected for this revision were derived from a variety of sources, including NIOSH pohcy documents such as Criteria Documents and Current Intelligence Bulletins (CIBs), and recognized references in the fields of industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, toxicology, and analytical chemistry. 

When available, standard methods of sampling and analysis should be used. The International Standard Organisation (ISO), the Comite Europeen de Normalisation (CEN) and various national bodies have published several methods for determination of airborne contaminants. Primary sources are the compendia of methods recommended by the regulatory bodies, i.e. the UK, HSE the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The HSE has published Methods for the Determination of Hazardous Substances (MDHS) for over 70 specific substances (Health and Safety Executive 1981-95). OSHA and NIOSH have published manuals with more than 500 and 100 sampling and analytical methods respectively (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 1994 Occupational Safety and Health Administration 1985). Secondary sources are published literature references in, for example. Annals of Occupational Hygiene, the American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, or Analytical Chemistry. 

For other air contaminants and wipe samples, so-called wet methods of chemical analysis may be employed. Full details can be found in pnblications snch as the US NIOSH Manual of Sampling Methods, publications from the UK Health and Safety Executive, Annals of Occupational Hygiene, Applied Industrial Hygiene, AIHA Journal, and analytical chemistry journals. 

Analytical chemistry is important in practically all areas of human endeavor and in all spheres of the environment. Industrial raw materials and products processed in the anthrosphere are assayed by chemical analysis, and analytical monitoring is employed to monitor and control industrial processes. Hardness, alkalinity, and trace-level pollutants (see Chapters 3-5) are measured in water by chemical analysis. Nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, oxidants, and organic pollutants (see Chapters 6-8) are determined in air by chemical analysis. In the geosphere (see Chapters 9-11), fertilizer constituents in soil and commercially valuable minerals in ores are measured by chemical analysis. In the biosphere, xenobiotic materials and their metabolites (see Chapters 2 and 12) are monitored by chemical analysis. As discussed further in this chapter, analytical chemistry is very important in the area of occupational health and the practice of industrial hygiene. 

Draper, William M., Kevin Ashley, Clifford R. Glowacki, and Paul R. Michael, Industrial Hygiene Chemistry Keeping Pace with Rapid Change in the Workplace, Analytical Chemistry, 71, 33R-60R (1999). A comprehensive review of this topic is published every 2 years in Analytical Chemistry. 

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