End-of-Service Life Indicator (ESLI)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Daveridge P ; Eisenberg D ; Galloway D ; Gebhard S ; Martin, Jennifer E. ; Srinivas G ; Wilcox J ; Daveridge P ; Eisenberg D ; Galloway D ; Gebhard S ; Martin, Jennifer E. ; Srinivas G ; Wilcox J
• Description:
  No simple technology is commercially available that allows the user of a respirator to determine if the chemical protection capability of a respirator filter cartridge has been reduced by exposure during storage, or by saturation with gases while it is in use. As a result, many workers who are required to use respirator protection are at risk for chemical exposure because the filter cartridge change-out schedules are not reliable; surveys show that up to 30% of the users simply change their cartridge when they smell a breakthrough. The 1998 OSHA revision to the standards for respirator cartridge use required that employers provide either a rigorous change-out schedule or require the use of a National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-certified end-of-service-life indicator (ESLI) for determining when a respirator cartridge needs to be replaced. Because no reliable, certified commercially available ESLI system has been developed, employers rely on respirator change-out schedules. These change-out schedules, however, are often inaccurate and unreliable due to the highly variable inputs used to calculate the lifetime of the respirator cartridges. As a result, wearers of the masks often do not follow the change-out schedules and are often exposed to chemical vapors prior to changing respirator cartridges. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and NIOSH surveys show that some 20-30% of all the workers determine their own respirator change-out schedules, which is against OSHA regulations. To address this issue, TDA has developed and demonstrated a colorimetric ESLI that changes color in response to organic vapors, acid gases and basic gases. TDA incorporated it into prototype respirator cartridges with the help of our collaborators. Should this technology be incorporated into commercially available respirator cartridges, not only would ESLIs prevent incidental overexposure to vapors, but they would eliminate costly added expenses incurred from unnecessary replacement of partially used cartridges resulting from conservative change-out schedules. An effective technology would improve the safety of workers who use more than 12 million respirator cartridges annually in the U.S. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety
• Keywords:
  Filters Monitoring Systems Personal Protective Equipment PPE Respirators Worker Health Work Practices
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports   ; Grant Final Reports  
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report ; Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs ; OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-51
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20052793
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R44-OH-009341, 2017 Nov; :1-51
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. Girish Srinivas, TDA Research, Inc., 12345 W. 52nd Avenue, Wheat Ridge, CO, 80033-1916
• Email:
  gsrinivas@tda.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  TDA Research, Inc., Wheat Ridge, Colorado
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20140901
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20170831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0427993d87e366bbafcb9e8ea66b75c799c16d263600f83c093fb7ba99beff7a02aec140649454fe45fe1fb7203ec06b2c350dbb00964c277ca8408f1c399f3c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218722/cdc_218722_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.57 MB ]