Industrial Hygiene Risk Assessment

2021 ◽  
pp. 249-281
Author(s):  
Tsvetan Popov ◽  
Georgi Popov ◽  
Bruce Lyon
Author(s):  
Jae-Young Choi ◽  
Sang-Hoon Byeon

Safety showers and eyewash stations are equipment used for primary washing if their operator is exposed to hazardous chemicals. Therefore, safety showers and eyewash stations should be installed to ensure operator safety in process plants with excessive hazardous chemicals. International guidelines related to safety showers and eyewash stations are introduced in ANSI Z358.1, BS EN 15154, and German DIN 12899-3:2009, but only mechanical specifications regarding safety showers and eyewash stations are suggested. As such, there are currently no engineering guidelines, books, or technical journal papers requiring safety showers or eyewash stations and their efficient deployment. Thus, this study conducted risk assessment from an industrial hygiene perspective, suggesting which process equipment requires a safety shower and eyewash, including their economical and efficient deployment for operator safety. In industry, safety showers and eyewash stations are considered part of the process safety field; this study attempted to contribute to the safety improvement of operators by applying risk assessment of the industrial hygiene field. More studies are needed that contribute to operators’ safety by incorporating industrial hygiene fields for other process safety fields, including safety showers and eyewash stations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 819-835
Author(s):  
Antonio José Carpio ◽  
María de las Nieves González ◽  
Inmaculada Martínez ◽  
María Isabel Prieto

The techniques for preventing risk have traditionally been analyzed on an individual basis, it being highly complex to apply preventive procedures across the board in construction works. This implies the necessary risk assessment based on the common factors of Safety at Work, Industrial Hygiene, Ergonomics and Psychosociology. This work analyzes and classifies the environments which characterize the building process: absolute (initial), documentary, construction, social and life cycle, and identifies the technical-documentary processes associated with each one. Finally, a new risk assessment method adapted to building works is proposed, called “Level of Preventive Action”, by means of a new mathematical formula which encompasses Safety at Work, Industrial Hygiene, Ergonomic and Psychosociological factors. It is based upon the development of the William T. Fine method, adapting it to construction works, with the incorporation of six parameters to explain the degree of correction. It consolidates and connects environment parameters to determine the preventive action level of the construction work, with the objective of establishing the levels of preventive control required to achieve an optimum prevention situation. The results of comparison between the environments in the implementation of the new risk assessment methodology during the construction process in a real building work are shown.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (9) ◽  
pp. 607-618
Author(s):  
Rachel E Zisook ◽  
Andrew Monnot ◽  
Justine Parker ◽  
Shannon Gaffney ◽  
Scott Dotson ◽  
...  

As businesses attempt to reopen to varying degrees amid the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, industrial hygiene (IH) and occupational and environmental health and safety (OEHS) professionals have been challenged with assessing and managing the risks of COVID-19 in the workplace. In general, the available IH/OEHS tools were designed to control hazards originating in the workplace; however, attempts to tailor them specifically to the control of infectious disease outbreaks have been limited. This analysis evaluated the IH decision-making framework (Anticipate, Recognize, Evaluate, Control, and Confirm (“ARECC”)) as it relates to biological hazards, in general, and to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), specifically. Available IH/OEHS risk assessment and risk management tools (e.g. control banding and the hierarchy of controls) are important components of the ARECC framework. These conceptual models, however, were primarily developed for controlling chemical hazards and must be adapted to the unique characteristics of highly infectious and virulent pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2. This assessment provides an overview of the key considerations for developing occupational infection control plans, selecting the best available controls, and applying other emerging tools (e.g. quantitative microbial risk assessment), with the ultimate goal of facilitating risk management decisions during the current global pandemic.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve M. Hankin

AbstractNanotechnology has the potential to greatly improve our lives through medical, environmental and consumer products. Properties at the nanoscale are being exploited in new products, but they could also influence how the particles interact with humans and the environment. There is increasing consensus that for nanotechnology to reach its maximum potential, we must work to understand the hazards and exposure routes in order to minimise the risks. Good practice, founded on the principles of risk assessment and industrial hygiene, are applicable to a wide range of nanomaterials and nanostructured materials including nanoparticles, nanofibres, nanopowders, nanotubes, as well as aggregates and agglomerates of these materials. There is still considerable uncertainty about many aspects of effective risk assessment of nanomaterials, including the hazardous potential of many types of nanoparticles and the levels below which individuals might be exposed, with minimal likelihood of adverse health effects. It is prudent therefore to understand how to develop an appropriate strategy for the risk assessment, handling and disposing of nanomaterials, in the light of known and unknown hazards and exposures. This paper presents a perspective of the key components of risk assessment applicable to nanotechnology and novel materials.


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