Occupational Dust Monitoring
Dust is generated by a wide range of manufacturing, domestic and industrial activities.
Ambient dust in the workplace from processes carried out can often times be excessively high. Employees operating in such areas can experience health effects such as lung capacity deterioration and other such ailments. For this reason dust concentrations should be monitored to ensure either they are in compliance with maximum dust concentrations recommended by the HSA, or that in areas of high dust concentrations personnel face masks are supplied to the employees.
Inhalable dust is taken to mean any solid particle which by its small size can be carried in airflow or remains airborne. It includes respirable dust. Respirable dust is taken to be the solid particles of less than 8.5 microns in size. Dust of this size is normally invisible to the human eye. Respirable dust can get deep into the lung and does not get ejected by the normal means of breathing out, coughing or travelling out in the mucus. It is because of this ability to stay in the body it is considered dangerous.
Safecon provides occupational dust monitoring services.
Occupational VOC Monitoring
Volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) are organic chemical compounds that have high enough vapor pressures under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere. A wide range of carbon-based molecules, such as aldehydes, ketones, and other light hydrocarbons are VOC’s. Many VOCs found around the house, such as paint strippers and wood preservatives, contribute to sick building syndrome because of their high vapour pressure. VOC’s are often used in paint, carpet backing, plastics, and cosmetics. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found concentrations of VOCs in indoor air to be 2 to 5 times greater than in outdoor air. During certain activities indoor levels of VOCs may reach 1,000 times that of the outside air. Not all organic compounds are volatile; many plastics (polymers) and other large molecules may not have significant vapor pressure at normal temperatures.
Safecon provides occupational VOC monitoring services.