Carbon dioxide concentrations inside surgical helmets and powered air-purifying respirators

Details

• Personal Author:
  Booher D ; Burroughs G ; Echt, Alan S. ; Lenhart S ; Rubman M
• Description:
  This poster presents the results of carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements performed inside surgical helmets and powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) while test subjects performed an exercise protocol designed to simulate the work of orthopedic surgery. Four types of surgical helmets in a total of 11 configurations were tested from among those manufactured by 3 companies. In addition, two NIOSH-approved PAPRs were evaluated. Test subjects wore typical surgical clothing while performing light exercise (<4 kilocalories/minute) while standing at an upper extremity ergometer set at a workload of 20 watts. Subjects were asked to maintain an exercise rate of 60 revolutions per minute on the ergometer's hand cranks. CO2 measurements were made using a portable infrared indicator. The range of the assembled instrumentation package was extended from 49.50 to 49,500 ppm by diluting the contaminant air stream in a ratio of 9:1 with ambient air scrubbed to remove CO2. CO2 concentration in room air was monitored continuously during all testing using a second, nondiluted CO2 analyzer. Mean CO.2 concentrations from four 15- minute tests of each of 11 surgical helmet configurations and 2 PAPRs tested ranged from 5500 to 11,700 ppm. CO2 concentrations in room air ranged from 375 to 575 ppm, with a mean of 450 ppm. These results indicate that if these surgical helmets and PAPRs are used during operations lasting 8 hours or more, the users will be exposed to CO2 levels exceeding the time-weighted average exposure limit (NIOSH REL, OSHA PEL, and ACGIH TLV) of 5000 ppm. Studies should be conducted to evaluate CO2 exposures during actual orthopedic procedures. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Monitoring Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Respiratory Protective Devices Respiratory System Safety

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• Keywords:
  Air-contamination Air-monitoring Air-purifying-respirators Breathing Carbon-compounds Dioxides Equipment-design Equipment-reliability Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-limits Face-masks Headgear Humans Measurement-equipment Medical-equipment Performance-capability Permissible-concentration-limits Physical-exercise Respirators Respiratory-equipment Surgeons Surgery Testing-equipment Time-weighted-average-exposure

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• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; New Jersey ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DPSE - Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering ; DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  81
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044074
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 9-15, 1998, Atlanta, Georgia. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 1998 May; :81
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon dioxide (CAS RN 124-38-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1998
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 9-15, 1998, Atlanta, Georgia
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e792688913788a49b2a188e8574b89f36fd37c0c923507e562bf213c58fa7bba6f4b5710d38ab26562ef448654162f4fc0a9d586996eae5bc641c13dcc39977c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199923/cdc_199923_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 629.56 KB ]