Page 42 - Occupational Health & Safety, October 2017

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
ployer can discontinue monitoring.
Air Monitoring: The Process
For a lot of employers, compliance with the new limits will require the implemen- tation of a new monitoring program, and there are a range of solutions available for this process. For personal exposure, air sampling pumps should be used to ensure that individual exposure to dust can be appropriately measured. For wider area and site monitoring, systems range from tools used by site operators and managers to check the area to a web-based product placed on site where data can be captured remotely to ensure compliance with regu- latory limits.
Monitoring must not impact the com- fort or productivity levels of a worker. Technology has advanced so much now that the person conducting the monitoring doesn’t need to physically follow workers throughout the day, and the data can be downloaded and analyzed elsewhere.
When starting workplace air monitor-
ing, think about:
■ What are the tasks and equipment
likely to generate high levels of dust that you already are aware of ?
■ What needs to be measured—per- sonal dust exposure, dust from a par- ticular machine, or wider environmental monitoring?
■ How are you going to report your measurements and learn from them?
Changing Cultures
There are a host of advantages in imple- menting a new workplace air monitoring system. These include the obvious benefits of ensuring compliance to the new respira- ble crystalline silica standard, recognizing potentially harmful levels, mitigating ex- posure risks, and improving worker health, but there are more.
REFERENCES
Such a system also presents opportuni- ties to engage more with your workforce through a dedicated education process, re- laying the monitoring data back to employ- ees and demonstrating the proactive steps being taken to ensure their health and mo- rale, which in turn could boost productivity.
In time, employees will develop in- grained health awareness and be part of the path to positive change. Such processes may seem daunting and challenging, but if the time is taken to implement them prop- erly and incorporate them into everyday working life, ill health statistics will be fun- damentally improved.
Tim Turney is the Technical Product Man- ager at Casella. For more information moni- toring solutions from Casella Solutions, visit casellasolutions.com.
1. https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=news_releases&p_id=33810 2. https://www.aiha.org/government-affairs/Documents/CRS%20Silica%20Report-04-16.pdf
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