Workplace Simulations: An Alternative to On-Site Industrial Hygiene Sampling

Abstract

Numerous hazardous agents are present in the workplaces of the construction industries. Conducting an on-site industrial hygiene survey in some phases of these industries can be difficult, if not impossible. An example is the evaluation of hazards arising in the cutting of epoxy-coated steel reinforcing rod (coated rod) in the structural steel erection industry (SIC 1791). When necessary, coated rod is cut using either a gasoline-powered cut-off saw or an oxy-acetylene cutting torch. Using either method generates smoke and dust that may be hazardous in their own right or that may contain hazardous materials such as combustion products of the epoxy resin coating. Typically, cutting coated rod is an unscheduled event that may have to be done quickly, as this phase of construction usually involves pouring large volumes of fresh (wet) concrete. It is not practical to anticipate such an event and to have industrial hygiene personnel and equipment standing by on-site to perform necessary industrial hygiene sampling. This article presents techniques used to address this problem by conducting an industrial hygiene evaluation of these work activities at a simulated work site. Results are presented documenting that a simulated work site can be effectively used to circumvent the problem of performing industrial hygiene sampling of an inaccessible work site.