Occupational detection

The research activity here presented has been carried out at the N.D.T. laboratory of l.S.P.E.S.L. (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Prevention) and it is aimed at the set up of the Stress Pattern Analysis by Measuring Thermal Emission technique [I] applied to pressure vessels. Basically, the SPATE system detects the infrared flux emitted from points resulting from the minute temperature changes in a cyclically stressed structure or component. 

Install flammable/toxic detection systems in buildings with alarms to warn building occupants of hazardous accumulations... 

Static sampling systems are defined as those that do not have an active air-moving component, such as the pump, to pull a sample to the collection medium. This type of sampling system has been used for over 100 years. Examples include the lead peroxide candle used to detect the presence of SO2 in the atmosphere and the dust-fall bucket and trays or slides coated with a viscous material used to detect particulate matter. This type of system suffers from inability to quantify the amount of pollutant present over a short period of time, i.e., less than 1 week. The potentially desirable characteristics of a static sampling system have led to further developments in this type of technology to provide quantitative information on pollutant concentrations over a fked period of time. Static sampling systems have been developed for use in the occupational environment and are also used to measure the exposure levels in the general community, e.g., radon gas in residences. 

ORP Oxidation reduction potential - the degree of completion of a chemical reaction by detecting the ratio of ions in the reduced form to those in the oxidized form as a variation in electrical potential measured by an ORP electrode assembly. OSHA The Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) is a law designed to protect the health and safety of industrial workers and treatment plant operators. It regulates the design, construction, operation and maintenance of industrial plants and wastewater treatment plants. The Act does not apply directly... 

The hazards of chemicals are commonly detected in the workplace first, because exposure levels there are higher than in the general environment. In addition, the exposed population is well known, which allows early detection of the association between deleterious health effects and the exposure. The toxic effects of some chemicals, such as mercury compounds and soot, have been known already for centuries. Already at the end of the eighteenth century, small boys who were employed to climb up the inside of chimneys to clean them suffered from a cancer of the scrotum due to exposure to soot. This was the first occupational cancer ever identified. In the viscose industry, exposure to carbon disulfide was already known to cause psychoses among exposed workers during the nineteenth century. As late as the 1970s, vinyl chloride was found to induce angiosarcoma of the liver, a tumor that was practically unknown in ocher instances. ... 

Aronson, K. J., and Howe, G. R. (1994). Utility of a surveillance system to detect associations between work and cancer among women in Canada, 1965-1991. /. Occup. Med. 36,1174-1179. 

This type of sensor typically includes infrared (IR) and ultrasound sensors. TRs detect the heat released from humans, and ultrasound sensors detect the movcnicnt of the human occupant (i.c., the device compares the reflection in different instants if they are different, something is moving in the sensor distance range). 

Boraiko C, Yoder R, Cooper J, Lieckfield R Jr, Remski M (2004) Sampling and analysis of butyltin compounds in air using gas chromatography and flame photometric detection. Journai of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 1 (1 ) 50-56. 

Samples of the indoor and outdoor air at the homes of workers occupationally exposed to pesticides, farmers and pesticide formulators, were taken monthly and analyzed for methyl parathion. Methyl parathion was found in 13 of 52 indoor air samples of formulators homes at a mean concentration of 0.26 pg/m (range of 0.04-9.4 pg/m ). Outdoor air samples of formulators homes showed that 3 of 53 samples contained methyl parathion at concentrations ranging from 0.15 to 0.71 pg/m. Methyl parathion was not detected in the indoor and outdoor air samples from farmers homes (Tessari and Spencer 1971). 

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the analytical methods that are available for detecting, measuring, and/or monitoring methyl parathion, its metabolites, and other biomarkers of exposure and effect to methyl parathion. The intent is not to provide an exhaustive list of analytical methods. Rather, the intention is to identify well-established methods that are used as the standard methods of analysis. Many of the analytical methods used for environmental samples are the methods approved by federal agencies and organizations such as EPA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Other methods presented in this chapter are those that are approved by groups such as the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) and the American Public Health Association (APHA). Additionally, analytical methods are included that modify previously used methods to obtain lower detection limits and/or to improve accuracy and precision. 

TharrD. 1998. Rapid assessment of organophosphate-induced cholinesterase depression A comparison of laboratory and field kit methods to detect human exposure to organophosphates. Appl Occup Environ Hyg 13 265-268. 

In addition to individuals who are occupationally exposed to endosulfan (see Section 5.5), there are several groups within the general population that have potentially high exposures (higher than background levels) to endosulfan. These populations include individuals living in proximity to sites where endosulfan was produced or sites where endosulfan was disposed of, and individuals living near one of the 162 NPL hazardous waste sites where endosulfan has been detected in some environmental media (HazDat 2000). 

The basis of this technique is absorption of ir radiation by molecules over a wide spectrum of wavelengths to give a characteristic fingerprint spectrum providing both qualitative and quantitative data on the substance. This versatile technique owes its success in occupational hygiene to the development of a portable spectrometer. Table 9.8 lists some compounds detectable by one type of portable ir analyser. 

Exposure Levels in Humans. This information is necessary for assessing the need to conduct health studies on these populations. Trichloroethylene has been detected in human body fluids such as blood (Brugnone et al. 1994 Skender et al. 1994) and breast milk (Pellizzari et al. 1982). Most of the monitoring data have come from occupational studies of specific worker populations exposed to trichloroethylene. More information on exposure levels for populations living in the vicinity of hazardous waste sites is needed for estimating human exposure. 

During refueling, the respective concentrations were 1.64, 1.33, 0.78, 0.19, and 6.34 mBq/m3 (44.3, 35.9, 21,5.1, and 171 fCi/m3). The derived air concentration recommended by the ICRP for occupational exposure is 80.0 mBq/m3 (2,200 fCi/m3). In 1997, the French radiation protection office conducted monitoring (24-hour urine analysis/whole body activity measurements) of workers in the non-nuclear energy field (i.e., nuclear medicine, research laboratories, and non-nuclear industries) to ascertain the occupational intake of radionuclides (De Vathaire et al. 1998). 241Am was not detected in samples from any of the 37 workers who worked with the isotope. 

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