With the summer heat comes an important question: how do you determine if you are providing enough outdoor (dilution) air for the optimum performance, comfort and health of building occupants, without wasting energy by over-ventilating? Building occupants generate an excellent tracer...

The OSHA Act contains a part referred to as the “General Duty Clause”The ClauseIn order to include the consideration of air sampling and airborne exposure levels in normal work place inspections without the use of a specific standard, OSHA has turned to the provisions of Section 5 of...

Noise exposure is one of the most common physical hazards in the occupational environment. Simple hearing protection such as ear plugs or muffs help to reduce workers’ noise exposure but may not provide enough protection to prevent hearing loss. OSHA bases the requirements for a...

The EPA sent out a statement outlining steps and precautions that building owners and school administrators should take to reduce occupant exposures to PCBs that might be found in caulking.  The EPA considers this a serious issue, especially when it involves school age children....

May 31, 2010 was the compliance deadline for having engineering controls in place to keep hexavalent chromium exposures below the established 8-hour permissible exposure limit.  OSHA inspections started emphasizing compliance with the hexavalent chromium standard.29CFR1910.1026...

Crystalline silica, a basic component of soil, sand, granite and other rock materials, is commonly used in occupations which perform such tasks as sand blasting, foundry work, cement mixing, stone cutting, rock drilling, quarry work, and tunneling. Silica can be inhaled when workers...

The silent component in welding fumes is manganese.  Most material safety data sheets (MSDS) won’t list it as a component of welding filler wire or rod because the amount is typically less than one percent.  Since it’s not listed, this metal often gets overlooked during the air...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has established substance specific standards for 32 substances (mostly carcinogens) that they have identified as unique and in need of specific guidance.Some of the more familiar substances on the list...

OSHA regulations stipulate that if “any employee’s exposure equals or exceeds an 8-hour time-weighted average of 85 decibels, the employer shall develop and implement a noise monitoring program.”Here’s a simple way to tell if you might be exposed to noise levels above 85 decibels. If...

The health of your workforce is a vital constant in today’s working environment.  Increasing costs and a constant barrage of changing information can make maintaining a safe and healthy workplace difficult.Hazard assessments of the operations and tasks your workers perform are a...