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edlted by
MALCOLM M. RENFREW University of ldaho MOSCOW. ldaho 83843
Monitoring Airborne Contaminants in Chemical Laboratories F r e d Hertlein Ill
INALAB, Honolulu, Hawaii
These columns have previously presented much information on the subject of safety and accident prevention in the chemical laboratory. The Occupational Safety and Health Act, however, protects workers
Fred Herlein, 111is presently the laboratory and industrial hygiene director of the Industrial Analytical 1,ahoratory (INALAB), located in Honolulu to provide industrial hygiene services to local Hawaiian industrial and business firms. He was, until recently Head nf the Industrial Hygiene Division in the Naval Regional Medical Clinic of Pearl Harbor Naval Station, where he was responsible for the scientific evaluation and control of the work envinmment a t all Naval activities on the Islands of Oahu, Kawai, and Midway. In 1956 he was graduated from the Universityof Nevada (Reno) with a B. S.degree in chemistry. He did graduate study in Chemical Oceanography from 1956-1958 a t the University of Hawaii (Honolulu). Mr. Hertlein has written numerous scientific and technical reports for the U. S. Navy and other Federal agencies, and, in addition, he has been the President of P. Hertlein and Associates-Environmental Consultants since 1970. He was also the technical advisor to the Shipyard Commander concerning matters of ecology and envimnment, and air, water, and noise pollution, evaluation, and control. His professional affiliations, experiences, and concerns lie heavily with environmental protection, in general, and industrial hygiene and analytical chemistry in particular.
against not only safety hazards but also against health hazards of the occupational environment. Potential health exposures are normally evaluated by professional industrial hygienists, but chemists are in an excellent position to perform much of this sampling by themselves. It is the purpose of this short article, therefore, to delineate simple procedures by which these evaluations can be performed. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) assures that all employees will he provided a safe and healthful work environment. A question may arise as to whether students can he defined as "workers" or employees in the oecupationd sense of the term. Certainly university instructors and staff can be defined as employees, but can students? There is a t least one instance where students were indeed accorded all the protect~onthat employees were. This occurred a t a local university when students questioned whether they were being exposed to concentrations of toxicgases and vapors in excess ofthe OSHA criteria during organic chemistry laboratory sessions. University authorities felt that the question should be resolved. and our firm was con1r3ited I
