Fri 26 Aug 2011

Can we protect construction workers’ hands?

Posted by admin under Admin Controls, Chemical Exposure, Dermal, Gloves, Personal Protective Equip (PPE)
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Sometimes it is extremely hard to protect the hands of people in construction. A typical construction worker may need leather gloves all day…until the end of the shift when he uses the solvent to clean his tool. Previous cuts, scrapes and scabs make it easy for chemicals to enter. And, depending on the chemical, it may absorb through the skin, or at least, dry it out.

Below is a employee’s hand who had been working with acetone for years. He badly wanted his hands to feel better.

Here is a link to an excellent article by Donald Groce at EHS Today.

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Thu 18 Aug 2011

Concrete cutting & respirators

Posted by admin under Admin Controls, Air Monitoring, Concrete, Engineering Controls, HEPA, Personal Protective Equip (PPE), Respirators, Silica
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The question I commonly hear is:

Do I need to wear a respirator while cutting concrete wet? What, if so, what type?

To simple answer is, yes.

If wet concrete cutting is done correctly, you should not need a respirator. However, what happens is that in the field, many variables occur. ((Engineering Controls)) Sometimes the water will be directed at the top of the blade (for cooling, not for dust control). The water must be directed at the cutting site on the blade in order to control dust.

Another variable is ((Administrative Controls)) clean up. Do the workers clean up the wet slurry? Or, do they wait till it’s dry and then use a leaf blower?  Do they vacuum the slurry? What happens when the job is done and the vacuum is in the shop? Does the employee wet it down, or blow it off?

Also, what happens when your worker is cutting wet and the water stops? Does he continue? What about if he get to a curb? Do they get the Stihl hot saw and cut wet? What if they don’t have water for that saw?

So, technically, if done correctly, a respirator should not be needed. However, if you don’t have the protocols, air monitoring data, and management controls in place to do it correctly, get a respirator.

Which respirator, you ask? Minimum would be a tight fitting negative pressure half face with HEPA filters. If they are knowingly performing concrete cutting dry – then it needs to be a full face respirator.

 

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Wed 10 Aug 2011

Lead Lined Sheetrock – installing

Posted by admin under Air Monitoring, Engineering Controls, HEPA, Lead, Leaded Sheetrock, Management, Respirators
[2] Comments

Leaded sheetrock is what the name says, sheetrock with a lead layer. It is used in hospital x-ray rooms and other health office clinics for containing / controlling the emitted x-rays while the machines are in use.

Plastering / Drywall companies who install this type of drywall need to follow the OSHA Construction Rules for lead work. I have heard of airborne exposures being at the exposure limits (50 ug/m3) during the installation due to the cutting and breaking of the drywall. My own personal monitoring has been below the Action Limit (30 ug/m3), but I have consistently found levels above the detection limit. This information should be taken as a caution to others.

For starters the employer will need to provide:

  • half face negative pressure tight fitting respirators with HEPA cartridges
  • protective clothing (like Tyvek (R))
  • containment (for the dust generated)
  • training (in lead and respirators)
  • hand washing / changing areas
  • HEPA vacuums for clean up
  • possibly air monitoring (by a qualified industrial hygienist)
  • possibly blood lead testing

The sheetrock should be contained during transport. Installation should be performed in a contained area with employees in respirators who are trained and competent. Clean-up should be done with HEPA vacuums. Air monitoring should be performed to assure that employees were adequately protected during their activities.

Working with this type of material is no excuse to cut corners (no pun intended). Protect your employees, the hospital, the patients, and others.

 

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Thu 28 Jul 2011

A good reminder

Posted by admin under Training
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Tue 19 Jul 2011

OSHA’s Lead in Construction

Posted by admin under Air Monitoring, EPA, Lead, OSHA, Personal Protective Equip (PPE), Respirators, Training
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To simplify OSHA’s rules for lead in construction this is how I explain it:

Do you have lead (lead in paint usually) on the construction project? …Then you must comply with the entire rules.

How do you start? You start by listing the tasks where you will disturb the lead. For example, demolition, hand scraping, torch cutting.

After you’ve identified the tasks, then you can look at the OSHA rules and determine the minimum personal protective equipment (PPE) that will be necessary for your employees to wear while they’re performing each individual task.

Next, train your empoyee’s in lead awareness, which is the dangers, prevention and hazards of lead poisoning.

There is one other important aspect. Measuring your airborne levels of lead. This is done by air monitoring with a battery powered pump (and is typically one role of an industrial hygienist). Airborne lead results will indicate if you are generating a lot of lead into the air, or not. If you’re not, you can sometimes downgrade (bad word) the level of respiratory protection for your employees.

  • Caveat: this is not a complete summary of the rules. Please know and understand your local and federal rules entirely! This also does not cover the EPA’s Lead Rules which have specific items that you must do.

 

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Fri 15 Jul 2011

Is there silica in precast concrete?

Posted by admin under Engineering Controls, Silica
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No, and maybe yes.

Crystalline silica (the dangerous type) is typically NOT added into precast concrete. On the other hand, Silicon dioxide (also called micro silica, or silica fume) is added for strength, bonding, and compression strength to concrete. It is usually added at the cement factory. This type of silica binds with the portland cement and (from an inhalable particulate standpoint) is not dangerous.

However, danger lies it what ELSE is added to the precast concrete…..ROCKS!

Rocks, dirt and soil contain varying amounts of silica in the Northwest US. And, if these are broken, ground, chipped, hammered, they can become airborne….which allows the crystalline silica to be released and THAT is dangerous.

Always use wet methods when working with precast concrete.

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Fri 1 Jul 2011

Happy 4th of July- Lower the Decibel

Posted by admin under Hearing Conservation, Noise
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Wed 29 Jun 2011

Noise in Welding

Posted by admin under Air Monitoring, Hearing Conservation, hearing protection, Noise, Welding
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Most welders wear ear plugs. Why? Because of noise, sure, but also because of slag entering into their ear canal and harming the ear drum.

The average noise levels can vary throughout the day – depending on the project. During the day of this survey, welders were tacking and fabricating stairs and handrails. However, their typical business is large tanks. Do you think the noise levels might vary depending on what they’re making? I do.

I’d also bet that air monitoring during these events would vary. If the welder is inside a large tank performing welding for a few hours, I’d worry about more than just welding fumes. (some might be: welding gases displacing oxygen, electrical hazards, heat exposure, UV, and also the welding metal and rods).

Be safe out there!

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Thu 23 Jun 2011

Who needs asbestos training?

Posted by admin under Asbestos, Building Survey, Lead, Management, OSHA, Training
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By definition, “if you work around, or near asbestos”.  Which leads to:

When do I work around it?

  • Answer: Buildings build before 1985 (some say 1980) might have it.

How do I know if I’m working around it?

  • Answer: Any structure build before 1985 must have an asbestos building survey performed and the contractor have a copy of it on hand. (and while the inspector is onsite they might as well check for lead (Pb)).

So what type of training do I need?

  • Answer: It depends. Either Class III or Class IV Training is required by OSHA (see earlier post).

We subcontract any asbestos work, and typically it’s already abated before we arrive onsite. Do we still need training?

  • Answer: Yes. OSHA does not define any training shorter (less involved) than Class IV (which is 2 hours). And, what I commonly see is that employers don’t train their employees, they find asbestos, disturb it and then get in trouble.

Any advice for how our company can avoid getting in these situations?

  • Answer: Train your office staff before you actually train your hands-on employees. If your estimators, project managers, superintendents and vice presidents know what to look for before bidding a job, then everyone has time to prepare and get the proper surveys, documentation, assistance, and training.

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Tue 14 Jun 2011

IH Smart Phone Apps

Posted by admin under Management, software, Training
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I attended a great session at an Industrial Hygiene Expo and Conference. Nowadays anyone with internet can find these useful apps, but it sure was nice to just sit there and watch them explain what they liked/disliked about each smart phone application.

Here are my top “useful”picks (mostly from their list). I like the free ones…Disclaimer: I didn’t develop these, nor have I loaded them all, or attempted to use them. 

  1. Chemical Compatibility Database – might be really handy, if you remember to use it before you mix those chemicals
  2. Lightmeter – I can see this one being really useful on those dark construction sites
  3. IH Dig – if you r one- you gotta have this game
  4. Converter Plus – mg/m3 to ppm, etc.
  5. Cargo Decoder – all those DOT placard trucks running down the road- now you  know to be scared of
  6. Time Calculator – allows you to add time(s) easier
  7. Sound Level Meter – yep. and it works. Well, probably not in court.
  8. Velometer – I can’t really tell you how it works, or if it’s accurate, but it might help sometime
  9. Floor Plans (on the fly) – if you need a scale or a floor plan from a picture on your phone
  10. Translators – these are really handy if you’re not fluent

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