Air Sampling
Health and Safety in the workplace involves a wide range of potential hazards
Airborne hazards from gases, vapours, dusts and fibres can all cause potentially life threatening illnesses affecting the lungs, kidneys and liver.
Air sampling is a vital method of monitoring workers' exposure to these potential airborne workplace hazards.
Air sampling is relevant to almost every industry, from flour dust exposure in a bakery to chemical vapour exposure in a factory.
By consistently measuring the concentration of airborne contaminants steps can be taken to reduce workers' exposure, thereby helping to prevent chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma, as well as occupational cancers.
How It Works
Air sampling is carried out to ensure that workplace or environmental air is meeting regulatory standards and to help Occupational Hygiene and Health & Safety professionals assess employee exposure to airborne hazards. Regulatory authorities, such as the HSE in the UK or OSHA in the USA, apply limits for exposure to most substances deemed hazardous to worker’s health. The HSE terms these limits Workplace Exposure Limits (WELs) and they are defined as the maximum concentration of a hazardous airborne substance that a worker may be exposed to over a defined period such as an 8-hour shift.WELs apply to anybody working within an environment where hazardous substances are present and are based on personal sampling, not static/environmental – however, this does not mean that limits cannot apply under these circumstances.
