Towards the end of 2011, OSHA published its regulatory agenda for the upcoming year. Two items are especially relevant to gas detection in healthcare, food processing and other industries: The revision of the HazCom standard and the revision of the OSHA Permissible exposure limits (PELs).
HazCom
The Hazard Communication standard applies to all companies using chemicals and requires appropriate material safety data sheets (MSDSs), labels, employee training etc. One problem facing the HazCom Standard is that different government agencies apply different standards and across the world the standards differ significantly from country to country, meaning that different labels and MSDSs are needed from one location to the next. The United Nations has developed a global harmonization standard (GHS) that can be used to classify chemicals according to their properties. OSHA is working towards updating the HazCom standard to be compliant with the GHS.
OSHA PELs
Most of the current OSHA PELs were adopted under the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) from the 1968 ACGIH TLV values, since they were already federally recognized consensus standards. With a few exceptions, the majority of the PELs today are unchanged since they were first adopted even though a considerable amount of chemical safety data has been collected since then and the ACGIH TLVs have been regularly updated. In 1989 OSHA attempted a broad updating of the PELs, introducing 164 new PELs and lowering 212 existing ones. However, these changes were subsequently overturned by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 1992, on the grounds that OSHA failed to show the health benefits versus the cost of implementation for each individual compound, as required under the OSH Act. The PELs thus reverted back to their prior values. OSHA is again looking at revising the PELs, but the legal framework remains to be seen.
The ChemDAQ blog will be following both of these themes over time and will provide updates as more information becomes available.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Peracetic Acid Occupational Exposure Levels
Peracetic acid (PAA) is gaining wide acceptance as a disinfectant and sterilant in many industries including healthcare, food processing (aseptic packaging, bottling, dairy and meat) and water treatment. PAA acid is a relatively simple chemical formed as an equilibrium component in a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid; with excellent disinfection properties and additionally PAA is environmentally benign since it rapidly breaks down to harmless product (acetic acid and water).
Any broad spectrum disinfectant or sterilant is potentially hazardous to people exposed to it and the widespread use of PAA has meant that there is the potential for workplace exposure. While employers have a duty to ensure a safe workplace [OSH Act (1970) sec. 5], it has been difficult to determine what level of PAA exposure is safe since there is no OSHA permissible exposure limit for PAA and little other guidance.
Guidance is now available: The EPA published acute exposure guidelines for PAA in 2010, available at http://www.epa.gov/oppt/aegl/pubs/results80.htm. In addition, the ACGIH has recently published a notice of intended change to introduce a short term exposure limit (STEL) of 0.2 ppm for PAA to The notice is available from the ACGIH website at http://www.acgih.org/store/ProductDetail.cfm?id=2199 and marks a significant improvement in the hazard assessment information available to employers using PAA.
Knowing the exposure limit is only helpful if the actual exposure can be measured; and the ChemDAQ offers continuous monitors for PAA, designed to operate with sufficient resolution to provide protection at these low levels. Details of the monitors and the health effects of exposure to PAA are available on the ChemDAQ website http://www.chemdaq.com/gases/Peracetic_Acid.html. Contact ChemDAQ for more information at info@chemdaq.com.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Happy 40th, OSHA!
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 29, 1970. Forty years ago today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was established.
Over the past four decades, the nation has made dramatic progress in reducing work-related deaths and injuries. Since 1970, workplace fatalities have been reduced 65 percent, while reported occupational injury and illness rates have declined nearly 67 percent.
Unfortunately, far too many preventable injuries and fatalities still occur, with 12 workers dying on the job daily, while more than 3.3 million men and women suffer a serious work-related injury or illness annually.
Worse, millions more are exposed to toxic chemicals that may cause illness or death years in the future. Therefore, OSHA has established permissible exposure limits (PEL) - the legal exposure limit of employees - to hundreds of chemical substances and physical agents (29 CFR 1910.1000, Tbl Z-1)
Most of the PELs are time-weighted average (TWA) exposure concentrations over 8 hours. For some chemicals, OSHA mandates employee short-term exposure limits (STELs), calculated as a 15 minute TWA (also called the excursion limit for ethylene oxide) and ceiling limits to toxic substances in the workplace.
In the case of low temperature sterilization, even though equipment is designed to the highest safety standards, failures of equipment, ventilation systems, and mishandling of sterilants agents frequently occurs.
For hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and healthcare facilities, employee exposure to sterilant concentrations exceeding OSHA mandates typically results in hazmat decontamination and evacuation. In addition to disrupting Sterile Processing Department operations productivity, co-dependent functions like surgery are impacted, which goes right to the hospital’s bottom line.
Higher capacity healthcare-related sterilization and disinfection, segments – medical device manufacturers, contract sterilization and pharmaceuticals – utilize sterilants in volume. Highly combustible, potentially catastrophic OSHA sterilant concentration employee expands the consequences of not continuously monitoring to multiple, serious work-related employee injuries or worse.
OSHA also mandates employee workplace respiratory injury prevention and protection standards for other sterilization and disinfection intensive sectors; specifically: aseptic packaging, food & produce processing and storage.
The ChemDAQ Steri-Trac® Sterilant Gas Monitoring System provides the optimal solution for workplace safety assurance, protecting personnel from serious health effects associated with exposure to toxic sterilant gases, disinfectant and anti-microbial agents such as Ethylene Oxide, Hydrogen Peroxide, Ozone and Peracetic Acid. The system is modular, ranging from a single area monitor to multi-point, multi-gas systems and can flexibly accommodate additional sterilizers as well as the introduction of new/different sterilant gases.
Modularity also increases system reliability. For instance, should one component fail, the rest of the system would continue to function normally and providing redundant protection. In addition, Steri-Trac sensors are electrochemical affording high sensitivity, continuous monitoring and fast response times.
Steri-Trac Area Monitors work in conjunction with ChemDAQ’s DAQ® Central Monitoring System to continuously track and analyze exposure values in areas where toxic gases are used or stored. The DAQ calculates the time weighted average exposures and alarms when OSHA and other federal, state and local regulatory agencies and professional organizations maximum exposure limits are exceeded. The system also provides impending alerts to allow remedial action be taken before a hazardous situation develops.
In the event of a significant sterilant gas or chemical leak the system provides visual and audible alarms based on the instantaneous gas concentration. Even when everyone is clear, the ChemDAQ system continues to monitor the air and lets management and employees know when it is safe to return.
ChemDAQ provides summaries of the complex OSHA Regulations, Recordkeeping and Health Risks covering low temperature sterilant gas and disinfectant agent exposure. As an industry thought-leaders, we also maintain reference links to Educational Opportunities & Articles Related to Workplace Safety on our website.
Providing a safe working environment for employees is an important consideration for any business, particularly those that use or store toxic gases as part of their normal processes. For this reason, Steri-Trac is the ideal solution for companies utilizing sterilization and disinfection processes as a critical component of their overall operation.
ChemDAQ, helping you protect what matters most.
Over the past four decades, the nation has made dramatic progress in reducing work-related deaths and injuries. Since 1970, workplace fatalities have been reduced 65 percent, while reported occupational injury and illness rates have declined nearly 67 percent.
Unfortunately, far too many preventable injuries and fatalities still occur, with 12 workers dying on the job daily, while more than 3.3 million men and women suffer a serious work-related injury or illness annually.
Worse, millions more are exposed to toxic chemicals that may cause illness or death years in the future. Therefore, OSHA has established permissible exposure limits (PEL) - the legal exposure limit of employees - to hundreds of chemical substances and physical agents (29 CFR 1910.1000, Tbl Z-1)
Most of the PELs are time-weighted average (TWA) exposure concentrations over 8 hours. For some chemicals, OSHA mandates employee short-term exposure limits (STELs), calculated as a 15 minute TWA (also called the excursion limit for ethylene oxide) and ceiling limits to toxic substances in the workplace.
In the case of low temperature sterilization, even though equipment is designed to the highest safety standards, failures of equipment, ventilation systems, and mishandling of sterilants agents frequently occurs.
For hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and healthcare facilities, employee exposure to sterilant concentrations exceeding OSHA mandates typically results in hazmat decontamination and evacuation. In addition to disrupting Sterile Processing Department operations productivity, co-dependent functions like surgery are impacted, which goes right to the hospital’s bottom line.
Higher capacity healthcare-related sterilization and disinfection, segments – medical device manufacturers, contract sterilization and pharmaceuticals – utilize sterilants in volume. Highly combustible, potentially catastrophic OSHA sterilant concentration employee expands the consequences of not continuously monitoring to multiple, serious work-related employee injuries or worse.
OSHA also mandates employee workplace respiratory injury prevention and protection standards for other sterilization and disinfection intensive sectors; specifically: aseptic packaging, food & produce processing and storage.
The ChemDAQ Steri-Trac® Sterilant Gas Monitoring System provides the optimal solution for workplace safety assurance, protecting personnel from serious health effects associated with exposure to toxic sterilant gases, disinfectant and anti-microbial agents such as Ethylene Oxide, Hydrogen Peroxide, Ozone and Peracetic Acid. The system is modular, ranging from a single area monitor to multi-point, multi-gas systems and can flexibly accommodate additional sterilizers as well as the introduction of new/different sterilant gases.
Modularity also increases system reliability. For instance, should one component fail, the rest of the system would continue to function normally and providing redundant protection. In addition, Steri-Trac sensors are electrochemical affording high sensitivity, continuous monitoring and fast response times.
Steri-Trac Area Monitors work in conjunction with ChemDAQ’s DAQ® Central Monitoring System to continuously track and analyze exposure values in areas where toxic gases are used or stored. The DAQ calculates the time weighted average exposures and alarms when OSHA and other federal, state and local regulatory agencies and professional organizations maximum exposure limits are exceeded. The system also provides impending alerts to allow remedial action be taken before a hazardous situation develops.
In the event of a significant sterilant gas or chemical leak the system provides visual and audible alarms based on the instantaneous gas concentration. Even when everyone is clear, the ChemDAQ system continues to monitor the air and lets management and employees know when it is safe to return.
ChemDAQ provides summaries of the complex OSHA Regulations, Recordkeeping and Health Risks covering low temperature sterilant gas and disinfectant agent exposure. As an industry thought-leaders, we also maintain reference links to Educational Opportunities & Articles Related to Workplace Safety on our website.
Providing a safe working environment for employees is an important consideration for any business, particularly those that use or store toxic gases as part of their normal processes. For this reason, Steri-Trac is the ideal solution for companies utilizing sterilization and disinfection processes as a critical component of their overall operation.
ChemDAQ, helping you protect what matters most.
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