Breath test for solvents
Breath test for solvents
Keywords: Solvents, Exposure, Health and Safety
Another development on solvent emissions is the "breakthrough research"announced by the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) that it says could lead to the setting of new guidance values for exposure to solvents in the workplace. The research developed by HSL concerns the development of a breath sampler,which is designed to provide a far more user friendly and less invasive test for levels of exposure to solvents than has been available in the past through the use of blood and urine samples. As this research continues to progress and more data is collated, it could lead to the setting of new guidance values against exposure to solvents.
Dr John Cocker, in charge of the research at HSL, said at a recent briefing:
Breathing in excessive amounts of vapours or mists from solvents can cause serious ill health effects. Even at lower levels of exposure many solvents can be irritating to the respiratory system. There is a clear need to control and monitor exposure. The problem is complicated by the fact that many solvents can be absorbed into the body through the skin as well as inhalation.
One of the ways of measuring exposure by all routes is biological monitoring. Traditionally, this has involved collecting blood or urine although the police have been using breath-alcohol analysis for years. Breath analysis has been held back by the much lower concentration involved and the difficulties of sample collection, storage and analysis. The development of the breath sampler represents a step forward and solves many of the problems.
To collect a sample, all the worker has to do is exhale for as long as possible through the mouthpiece on the sampler. Most of the breath goes straight through the sampler but the last bit of breath, with the highest concentration is left inside. At the end of the collection, a tube containing an adsorbent is placed at the end of the sampler. By using a plunger attached to the mouthpiece the captured breath is transferred into the adsorbent tube which can then be sealed and sent to the laboratory for analysis.
