An Inexpensive Monitoring Network to Assess Workplace Exposures

Details

• Personal Author:
  Koehler K ; Peters T ; Thomas G
• Description:
  Personal exposure sampling is the primary means to ensure that chemical and physical hazards in the workplace are maintained below occupational exposure limits. Typically few exposures are measured to represent a large working population because personal sampling is expensive and time consuming. Hence, most decisions regarding the extent to which workers are protected are based on extremely sparse data. We have shown that incorporation of distributed networks of inexpensive sensors can provide dramatic gains in the hazard level information available for understanding the components of exposure variability, which are critical to evaluating and mitigating workplace risk. Our work was completed in two phases: laboratory and field work. In the laboratory phase we conducted a thorough evaluation of commercially available sensors, as well as building our own noise sensor, and incorporating them into a robust monitoring network. In the field work we deployed a novel distributed monitoring network and paired that with location tracking data to estimate personal exposures. Successful completion of our work has resulted in a functional, multi-hazard, network-deployable monitor (Aim 1), a method to optimize the number and placement of monitors within an occupational setting (Aim 2), and a method to integrate network hazard data and worker tracking data to estimate personal exposures (Aim 3). The network was deployed in an eight month-long field study at an industrial workplace to demonstrate its general utility and reliability. Analyses of the data from field studies demonstrated how the distributed monitoring network can be used to evaluate hazard risk at different time scales relevant to acute (e.g, 15-min) and chronic exposures (e.g., 8-hr, 40-hr, or longer; Aim 2). During typical production periods, 1-h mean hazard levels +/- standard deviation across all monitors for particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), oxidizing gases (OX), and noise were 0.62 +/- 0.2 mg m-3, 7 +/- 2 ppm, 155 +/- 58 ppb, and 82 +/- 1 dBA, respectively. Further analyses conducted in Aim 3 showed that network-derived personal exposures compare favorably to conventionally measured personal exposures. When considering the accuracy of three campaigns of measurements for workers who move around the facility (mobile employees) the RMSEs between network-derived estimates and traditional personal exposure DRI measurements were 0.15 mg/m3, 1 ppm, 27 ppb, and 3 dBA for PM, CO, O3 and noise, respectively. Compared to conventional personal sampling, this new framework enables an unprecedented increase in exposure measurements (1,000X to 10,000X). This dramatic increase in sample size, even if somewhat less accurate and precise than conventional sampling, will make comprehensive exposure assessment possible in routine industrial hygiene practice, medical surveillance, and epidemiological study. Moreover, the framework is sufficiently general to apply for any physical or chemical agent depending on sensor availability. Consequently, the results of this work will be directly applicable to many sectors of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Carbon Monoxide Environmental Exposure Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Ozone Particulate Matter Safety
• Keywords:
  Carbon Monoxide Exposure Assessment Exposure Levels Monitoring Systems Noise Exposure Occupational Exposure Particulates Samplers Sampling Equipment Sensors
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; Maryland ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-41
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20060967
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2022-100318
• 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, R01-OH-010533, 2019 Nov; :1-41
• Contact Point Address:
  Kirsten Koehler, Associate Professor, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205
• Email:
  Kirsten.koehler@jhu.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0) ; Ozone (CAS RN 10028-15-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Performing Organization:
  Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20140901
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20180831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:97bd17ab2bc80c9f00edfd7380a677f7c545fd0a82e47fced61c523186b40303bff676ab8086e6030eccb5399841e34a3e433e1404b640e1b297aa9dc8f1ba10
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/219016/cdc_219016_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.32 MB ]