HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES BEWARE THE BENZENE
Steve Billingham, CEO of Duvas Technologies, discusses how recent progressions in ultraviolet spectroscopy is helping to improve air quality for workers around the globe.
Headlines about poor air quality, and its impact on public health, are everywhere. From diesel emissions to industrial pollution, regular exposure to dangerous toxins is now almost inevitable. But how far does employer responsibility stretch, even when commercial activity isn’t the direct cause?
Although air quality is easily forgotten, pollution continues to rise up the national health agenda. Embracing ever-more comprehensive strategies to monitor, understand and combat occupational exposure is therefore a health and safety priority.
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE In March 2018, Europe’s Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) proposed an occupational exposure limit (OEL) for those working in close proximity to benzene. While a common chemical (used in the production of ethylbenzene and released in the production and combustion of petroleum), the detrimental health impacts of long-term exposure to benzene are only just emerging.
According to statistics from The Department of Health and Human Services (USA), more than 238,000 people are occupationally exposed to benzene every day. Brief exposure to high levels (10,000 parts per million [ppm]) can result in death. Lower levels (700 ppm) can cause dizziness, vomiting and unconsciousness. Although not immediate, long-term exposure to lower levels can be just as severe as a one-off high dose.
The introduction of a reduced OEL would therefore be ground-breaking. Currently at proposal stage, the limit put forward by the RAC at its annual conference in March would be 0.05 parts per million (PPM) across an eight-hour time weighted average.
Although it is encouraging to see the RAC take leadership on benzene exposure, many are questioning whether the proposals go far enough. A major criticism of the measures is that the time-weighted average of eight hours assumes that benzene exposure will be at consistently low levels and over a prolonged period of time. This is not always the case, making a one-size-fits- all approach to thresholds unworkable.
It could also be argued that the proposed limit of 0.05ppm is still too high. As outlined in recent research from the US Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to benzene at such a concentrated level could still be harmful – even if the exposure is over a shorter period of time.
While specifics for the limit are still being deliberated, once agreed it will be up to businesses in the UK and Europe to implement more rigorous gas detection procedures.
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INDUSTRY ROLL-OUT Over the past decade, we have seen significant advances in the air quality monitoring solutions put to market. Alongside existing photoionisation detection and gas chromatography technology, we have also seen developments in ultraviolet spectroscopy, providing the industry with hitherto unimaginable levels of insight, precision and flexibility.
Referring to absorption spectroscopy in the ultraviolet- visible spectral region, UV spectroscopy sees a specific wavelength of light shone into a gas cell. The beam of light is reflected via a series of mirrors and collected by a UV spectrometer. Because every type of detectable gas absorbs UV radiation along its own unique band of the spectrum, it is possible to precisely identify the concentration of the gases present.
Lighter, faster and more accurate than alternative solutions, not to mention mobile, UV spectroscopy delivers fast-response, accurate, real-time benzene data, capable of not only meeting the proposed OEL, but analysing to far greater levels of detail. What’s more, the technique can simultaneously measure concentrations alongside a plethora of additional species – nitrogen dioxide and toluene, for example.
Systems, such as the Duvas DV3000 analyser, are already being used by companies worldwide to deliver fast-response, accurate, real-time gas data – not just in a leak crisis scenario but offering a routine solution to detect levels early.
https://duvastechnologies.com/
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