Safety Tidbit 4.15 - Quantitative Fit-testing

Safety Tidbit 4.15 – Quantitative Fit-testing

Reference:       OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard (1910.134)

When providing respiratory protection in the workplace, you must choose the level of protection based on the exposure level. When using air-purifying respirators, OSHA has assigned protection factors of 10 and 50 for half-face and full-face respirators respectively. Meaning the respirator are not to be used where ambient concentrations exceed 10 or 50 times the permissible exposure limit (PEL). Also, the employer must fit-test the worker annually to ensure they use their respirator correctly and challenge them with a test agent.

There are four (isoamyl acetate, Bitrex^TM, saccharin mist, and irritant smoke) qualitative protocols that OSHA recognizes and explains in Appendix A of the federal respiratory protection standard. Ultimately, each protocol relies on feedback from the worker whether they detect the test agent or not. As an old-school industrial hygienist, I like irritant smoke since it usually elicits an involuntary response of coughing from the worker. However, Bitrex, which uses the chemical (denatonium benzoate) found in some commercial products to make their flavor undesirable to children, generally producing a slight involuntary response. Although the fit-tester must be paying attention to catch the worker’s “tell” or involuntary response.

Quantitative fit-testing requires no interpretation from the worker. There are two quantitative fit-testing protocols – ambient aerosol and controlled negative pressure. Ambient aerosol compares the level of aerosols outside the mask that within the mask to determine the fit of the respirator. Controlled negative pressure places a slight negative pressure on the mask to determine leakage. Each has its pros and cons – a major con being the price of the units themselves.

Interestingly, to pass the quantitative fit-test method, a fit-factor of 100 for half-face respirators and 500 for full face respirators are required. So, I ask, can the worker now wear the respirator in environments with ambient concentrations of 100 or 500 times the permissible exposure limit? The answer is NO. The levels required are to pass the quantitative fit-test method. A half-face air-purifying respirator is only to be used in ambient concentrations up to 10 times the permissible exposure limit and full-face respirators only up to 50 times the PEL.

Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.

Safety Tidbit 4.14 - Food (Turkey) Safety

Safety Tidbit 4.14 – Food (Turkey) Safety

Reference:       CDC Food Safety Blog

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. The CDC is warning of a multistate outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to raw to raw turkey products. Furthermore, the CDC estimates that annually one in six Americans will get sick from food poisoning and more than 100,000 people are sent to the hospital. There are four simple steps to follow to keep yourself safe from food poisoning – Clean – Separate – Cook – Chill.

Clean – Wash your hands for 20 seconds with plain soap and running water. Wash surfaces and utensils after each use. Wash fruits and vegetables but not meat, poultry or eggs.

Separate – Don’t cross-contaminate. Use separate cutting boards and plates for produce and for meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs. Keep meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs separate from all other foods at the grocery. Keep meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs separate from all other foods in the fridge.

Cook – Use a food thermometer. The food “Danger Zone” is between 40 degrees and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep food hot after cooking (at 140 degrees F or above). Use a warming tray or slow cooker to keep prepared food hot until serving. If using a microwave heat to 165 degrees F

Chill – Harmful bacteria can start to grow in food within two hours. It is imperative to chill the food below the “Danger Zone” as soon a possible. Refrigerate perishable food within two hours. Ensure the air can circulate in your fridge and the fridge is between 32 and 40 degrees. Lastly, never thaw your food on the countertop. Remember: once the food reaches the “Danger Zone” bacteria can start to grow.

Lastly, leftovers (the best part of Thanksgiving dinner!), according to the CDC, Clostridium perfringens are bacteria that grow in cooked foods left at room temperature. It is the most common bacterial cause of food poisoning. The major symptoms are vomiting and abdominal cramps within 6 to 24 hours of eating.

So, follow the CDC’s four steps for food safety, ensure your food is out of the Danger Zone and enjoy your Thanksgiving leftovers!

Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.

Safety Tidbit 4.13 - Winter Driving Safety

Safety Tidbit 4.13 – Winter Driving Safety

Reference:       OSHA/NHTSA Winter Driving Safety

                        AAA Exchange – Winter Driving Tips

Well, it’s not quite Thanksgiving and the first snow of the season has hit. For my friends in central New York, around Syracuse, your snow machine has been turned on so look out. For those in Mechanicsburg, PA a few of you were stranded at your offices or almost caught in your cars trying to get home. One friend said a typical 30-minute commute took nearly five hours yesterday evening. Maybe I’m a little late however, I thought a quick look at emergency planning for snow driving might be in order.

OSHA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a one-page Safe Winter Driving tips bulletin. Also, AAA has compiled a nice list of Winter Driving Tips on their Exchange website. OSHA and NHTSA promote the three P’s – Prepare, Protect, and Prevent.

Prepare – Plan your route and check, maintain your car, and my favorite practice. So, OSHA is advocating going out during daylight hours and doing donuts with your car to get a feel for how it responds?  Well not exactly but they do say go to an empty lot and steer into a skid. AAA advises to ensure your car is maintained properly and not leaving your tank drop below halfway.

Protect – Seatbelts! – Seatbelts! -- Seatbelts!! Children are to be in the back seat and appropriately buckled in. Cold weather gear or blankets should be in the car.

Prevent – Practice driving in the snow, don’t accelerate up hills or brake suddenly. Don’t drink alcohol and drive in wintery weather. Slow down and allow plenty of space between you and the car in front of you.

A few items you might consider for your winter emergency kit:

·      Hi-vis vest

·      Blanket(s)

·      Flashlight

·      Energy Bar

·      First Aid Kit

·      Cell phone (charged)

·      Portable power (charged)

·      Small shovel/scraper/car broom

·      Gloves/Hat/Boots

Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.

Safety Tidbit 4.12 - PPE Assessment

Safety Tidbit 4.12 – PPE Assessment

Reference: OSHA 1910.132 – Personal Protective Equipment

This week’s Safety Tidbit comes from a text I received yesterday from an attorney. “Are PPE Assessments or their certifications due annually?” I replied “Quick answer No.” But then went on to validate my answer on the OSHA website.

Under OSHA’s General Industry Standards, Subpart I, Personal Protective Equipment 1910.132(d)(1): “The employer shall assess the workplace to determine if hazards are present, or are likely to be present, which necessitate the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). If such hazards are present, or likely to be present, the employer shall:”

And 1910.132 (d)(1)(2):  “The employer shall verify that the required workplace hazard assessment has been performed through a written certification that identifies the workplace evaluated; the person certifying that the evaluation has been performed; the date(s) of the hazard assessment; and, which identifies the document as a certification of hazard assessment.”

I don’t see where OSHA defines a frequency that the assessment must be reassessed. Going a little further, I took a look the respirator standard. Paragraph 1910.134(d)(1)(iii) states “The employer shall identify and evaluate the respiratory hazard(s) in the workplace; this evaluation shall include a reasonable estimate of employee exposures to respiratory hazard(s) and an identification of the contaminant's chemical state and physical form.” Again, I don’t see a frequency of reevaluation.

Interestingly, the respirator standard does have a provision in paragraph 134(l) for overall program evaluation which states “… requires the employer to conduct evaluations of the workplace to ensure that the written respiratory protection program is being properly implemented, and to consult employees to ensure that they are using the respirators properly.”

And further in the subsequent paragraph (1910.134(l)(1)) “The employer shall conduct evaluations of the workplace as necessary to ensure that the provisions of the current written program are being effectively implemented and that it continues to be effective.” The respirator standard does require annual fit-testing and training of respirator users, so it seems logical to conduct a program evaluation and ask users for their input on program effectiveness at that time. However, as you can see, OSHA does not explicitly require it annually.

If I was to hazard a guess, OSHA does not specify a frequency for reassessment or revaluation to keep the implementations cost down. Because each time they specify a frequency their economists must factor that in and it takes time and therefore money. After all, we are trying to reduce paperwork, aren’t we? But how OSHA determines the economic feasibility of their standards is a topic for a future Safety Tidbit.

Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.

Safety Tidbit 4.11 - Prevention through Design

Safety Tidbit 4.11 – Prevention through Design

Reference: NIOSH PtD – Prevention through Design

Wouldn’t it be great if safety hazards could be eliminated during the design phase of a building? As an industrial hygiene consultant, I am always looking for ways to engineer out hazards at existing facilities. Often, I tour a facility right after it was completed. The owner, proactively, invites me in just before production was scheduled to get started to walk around and have a look. Unfortunately, everything is in place and making changes now is very difficult and costly. I usually commend them for thinking about their workers’ health and safety and then say if I had been brought in a just little bit earlier, I could have reviewed the construction plans and possibly (most likely) saved them energy (time and money) by assisting with the anticipation part of industrial hygiene and making recommendations for controls of the hazards.

This week, I was at the PA Governor’s Occupational Safety and Health Conference in Hershey. It was a great time, and hopefully, a few of our students can attend next year. Dr. Michael Toole, now at the University of Toledo as Dean for the School of Engineering presented on Prevention through Design or PtD. I knew Mike when he was a professor at Bucknell University where a few years ago we invited him to speak on the same topic at our much smaller conference at the Nittany Lion Inn. The Central PA Safety Association, along with the local sections of ASSE, and AIHA host a health and safety conference every spring. Dr. Toole described what PtD was and how it can save time and money (and lives) through the life of the structure. I was curious how this might work into my research on how to get employers to review their airborne hazards and minimize worker exposures without the use of personal protective equipment – namely respiratory protection. You see, I too was presenting at the conference on how employers assess your workplace for silica hazards and complete the Exposure Control Plan as required by the OSHA Respirable Crystalline Silica standard.

NIOSH has a national initiative “to prevent or reduce occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities through the inclusion of prevention considerations in all designs that impact workers.” Most of the examples that Dr. Toole used in his presentation involved ergonomic issues and incorporating anchorages into the design of the structure so that building the facility was safer and future maintenance workers had the means to connect their fall arrest systems.

During Professor Toole’s presentation, my thoughts ran to how we design the facility anticipating the airborne hazards and therefore protecting the workers before they ever set foot on the job? I don’t want the workers to have to use personal protective equipment which can be cumbersome and oftentimes, ineffective. Actually, the better question is how can I affect the decision-making process, so the employer uses their agency to protect their workers by taking charge of the hazard right from the start instead of relying on the workers’ proper use of personal protective equipment (again namely respirators)?

Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.