Personal exposure

It is good practice to keep concentrations of airborne nickel in any chemical form as low as possible and certainly below the relevant standard. Local exhaust ventilation is the preferred method, particularly for powders, but personal respirator protection may be employed where necessary. In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) personal exposure limit (PEL) for all forms of nickel except nickel carbonyl is 1 mg/m. The ACGIH TLVs are respectively 1 mg/m for Ni metal, insoluble compounds, and fume and dust from nickel sulfide roasting, and 0.1 mg/m for soluble nickel compounds. The ACGIH is considering whether to lower the TLVs for all forms of nickel to 0.05 mg/m, based on nonmalignant respiratory effects in experimental animals. 

PEL = personal exposure limit LEL = lower exposure limit UEL = upper exposure Ceiling limit is the concentration that should not be exceeded during any part of the working exposure relative vs -butyl acetate = 1, Relative to air = 1. 

Exposure to metal carbonyls can present a serious health threat. Nickel carbonyl is considered to be one of the most poisonous inorganic compounds. However, the toxicological information available on metal carbonyls is restricted to the mote common, commercially important compounds such as Ni(CO)4 and Ee(CO). Other metal carbonyls are considered potentially dangerous, especially ia the gaseous state, by analogy to nickel and iron carbonyls. Data concerning toxicological studies on a few common metal carbonyls are Hsted ia Table 6 (185). Additional toxicity data are OSHA personal exposure limits (PEL) for Ee(CO) this is 8 h at 0.1 ppm, whereas for the much more toxic Ni(CO)4 it is 8 h at 0.001 ppm, with a toxic concentration TCLq low (of 7 mg/m ) for human inhalation. 

Ethylene oxide is sold as a high purity chemical, with typical specifications shown ia Table 14. This purity is so high that only impurities are specified. There is normally no assay specification. Proper sampling techniques are critical to avoid personal exposure and prevent contamination of the sample with trace levels of water. A complete review and description of analytical methods for pure ethylene oxide is given ia Reference 228. 

Wallace, L. A., et al. (1983) Personal Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM) Study Summary and Analysis Vol. I. 

A record should be kept of any monitoring for at least 5 years, unless it is representative of personal exposure of identifiable employees when records must be retained for at least 40 years. 

The lack of limits should not be taken to imply an absence of hazard. In the absence of a specific OEL for a particular dust, exposure should be adequately controlled and where there is no indication of the need for a lower value, personal exposure should be kept below both 10 mg/m 8 hr TWA total inhalable dust and 4 mg/m 8 hr TWA respirable dust. 

MDHS 95 Measurement of personal exposure of metalworking machine operators to airborne water-mix... 

Personal exposure Predictions of exposure of occupants to airborne contaminants for risk assessment, inhaled doses, or time-integrated concentration values. 

Trichloroethylene levels monitored in expired breath of 190 New Jersey residents were correlated with personal exposure levels, which were consistently higher than outdoor air levels and were instead attributed to indoor air levels (Wallace et al. 1985). Other studies have expanded upon and confirmed these findings, concluding that indoor air is a more significant exposure source of trichloroethylene than outdoor air, even near major point sources such as chemical plants (Wallace 1986 Wallace et al. 1986a, 1986b, 1986c,... 

Wallace LA. 1986. Personal exposures, indoor and outdoor air concentrations and exhaled breath concentrations of selected volatile organic compounds measured for 600 residents of New Jersey, North Dakota, North Carolina, and California. Toxicol Environ Chem 12 215-236. 

Wallace LA, Pellizzari ED, Hartwell TD, et al. 1985. Personal exposures, indoor-outdoor relationships, and breath levels of toxic air pollutants measured for 355 persons in New Jersey. Atmos Environ 19 1651-1661. 

Wallace LA, Pellizzari ED, Sheldon L, et al. 1986d. The total exposure assessment methodology (TEAM) study Direct measurement of personal exposures through air and water for 600 residents of several U.S. cities. In Cohen Y, ed. Pollutants in a multimedia environment. New York, NY Plenum Publishing Corp., 289-315. 

Exposure Levels in Humans. Human exposure levels to acrylonitrile can only be estimated based on average concentrations in air, food and water. Direct studies of personal exposure levels for individuals with exposures judged to be average and above average (e.g., people living near industrial sources or hazardous waste sites) would be helpful in improving total dose estimates, and in identifying exposure pathways of concern. 

Pleil, J.D., Smith, L.B., and Zelnick, S.D., Personal exposure to JP-8 jet fuel vapors and exhaust at air force bases, Environ. Health Perspect., 108, 183, 2000. 

Examples of Specific Occupational, Environmental, and Personal Exposures Infectious Agents... 

This is a temporal study of personal exposures to particulate matter in a panel of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Fifteen subjects will be monitored... 

Relationship Between Personal, Outdoor and Indoor Air Concentrations (RIOPA) The overall goal of the national multicenter (Elizabeth, NJ, Houston, TX, and Los Angeles County, CA) RIOPA study is to establish a scientific foundation for effective, timely, public health intervention strategies. Outdoor, indoor, and personal exposures of adults and children to PM are measured and evaluated by mass, elemental, chemical, and source apportionment analyses in the other research programs. Non-smoking asthmatic and non-asthmatic adults and their children are included. Monitoring occurs... 

Decontamination Soap and water, or diluted sodium hypochlorite solution (0.5 percent). Smallpox has great potential for person-to-person exposure. Removal of potentially contaminated clothing should be done by people in full protective clothing in an area away from non-contaminated persons. All infectious cases should be quarantined for seventeen days following exposure for all contacts, and strict isolation would apply to any victims. All material used to treat victims or coming in contact with victims should be autoclaved, boiled or burned. Patients should be considered infectious until all scabs separate. 

Permissible exposure limits (PEL), 10 509 12 281 21 837. See also Personal exposure limit (PEL) for anthropogenic silicas and silicates, 22 467... 

Personal exposure limit (PEL), for nickel compounds, 17 120. See also Permissible exposure limits (PEL) Personal hazard protection, 21 838 Personnel. See also People commitment of, 15 474 health and safety of, 21 826-827 selection and training of, 21 857 training requirements for, 24 345-347 Persulfate redox initiation, in aqueous dispersion polymerization, 11 197-198,199 Persulfates, 18 408 26 189-190 Persulfate salts, 18 409 Persulfuric acid, 18 407—408 Perturbation... 

Leeser et al. (1990) study, because it was the lowest no-observed-adverseeffect level (NOAEL). Using the 8-h value of 1 ppm as the basis for time scaling to shorter durations, the conservative relationship of C3Xt=k was chosen for the derivations. The 10-minute (min) AEGL-1 was set equal to the 30-min value so as not to exceed the highest personal exposure concentration of 3.3 ppm in the well-conducted Leeser et al. (1990) study. 

For personal exposure, treatment will vary for inhalation, eyes, skin, or ingestion etc., and the appropriate procedures should be known by all in the lab. Some chemicals require special equipment to be on hand, such as HF antidote, and it may be necessary to warn the local hospital that certain chemicals are being used. All laboratory personnel should know the correct shutdown procedure for lab equipment, in the event of the operator being rendered incapable. 

In the investigation of methods for measurement of personal exposure, a method for measuring hydroquinone in air was evaluated, both in the laboratory and in the workplace. The method involved sampling the inhalable fraction onto a filter contained in a multi-holed sampler with a back-up of Tenax TA, followed by desorption into acetonitrile and analysis by HPLC. Desorption efficiency was shown to be effectively 100%. 13 refs. 

Wallace LA, Pellizzari E, Hartwell T, et al. 1984. Personal exposure to volatile organic compounds. I. Direct measurements in breathing-zone air, drinking water, food, and exhaled breath. Environ Res 35 293-319. 

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