Air Sampling

Air sampling is known as capturing the contaminant from a known volume of air, measuring the amount of contaminant captured, and expressing it as a concentration. It often is associated with the industrial work place or places where chemicals are used often or produced. Sampling air is conducted by using devices that measure and evaluate a sample, or multiple samples or the air. Some of the most dangerous hazards that pollute that air are man-made chemical compounds such as gases and vapors.

http://www.sensidyne.com/assets/images/lfs-113-air-sampling-pump.jpg

It is so important to conduct regular air samples because these potential hazards could harm any person or employee that spends time is said environment. These damages could be immediate or long term. Higher levels of contaminants such as toxic gases can cause direct and sometimes fatal outcomes. Contaminants at lower levels still have a major impact but result in illness and disease that gradually builds up in the body over time. It is imperative that air sampling is conducted regularly even if there are no obvious threats present. Keeping up with air sampling is apart of occupational health and safety standards.

Pump calibration is a way of sampling air in the field. The first step in to assemble the pump by connected the calibrated personal pump with plastic tubing to the collection media. The piece is attached with a holder that clips on and allows it to be attached to someone’s collar in the breathing zone.

Breathing zone sampling is personal because it only measures and evaluates that individual’s exposure to chemicals. They are called breathing zones because it is measured by an individual’s nose and mouth area. This method is the best way to accurately quantify the exact concentration of contaminants in the air that the person is actually breathing and taking into their body. 

http://airsamplingsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/intro-to-air-sampling-01.jpg

NIOSH method number 2027 is a sampling and analytical method for 6 ketone compounds in workplace air. The volume of air is calculated by multiplying the flow rate through the filter medium by the time in minutes. Calibration of the flow rate is important and should be carried out before and after each sample is taken.

There are multiple ways to measure air samples, but the most common is a battery operated pump. This machine is capable of collecting air through a filter at a constant rate over a period of eight hours. This can take place no matter what type of weather persists. These recommendations are to take a personal basis for an eight hour Time Weighted Average.

Industrial and construction sites are a very high risk for dangerous exposure. All the procedures are necessary to ensure a safe workplace. Without it, the staff may be prone to coming encounter with harmful dust, vapours, or gases. The most noteworthy route of entry is through inhalation into the body. It is vital to stay on top of these regulations to know that employees and other people will remain safe from harmful chemicals. Air sampling protects workers and the environment, but also the practice of taking samples of air can be helpful in determining what kind of protective clothing should be selected for worker safety.

Airborne Hazards

Airborne hazards are contaminants that occur in the gaseous form (gases and vapors) or as aerosols, dusts, sprays, mists, smokes and fumes. Dusts are among the most dangerous because they are often associated with occupational diseases such as lung disease, lead poisoning, cancer, asthma, allergic reactions or irritations, and others. Inhaling airborne toxins such as dust puts people at risk for occupational disease when they are inhaling these things at the work place. It can lead to temporary and permanent diseases as well as death and this is occurring all over the world. Contaminates such as dust can also alter the quality of products in the workplace which may lead to hazards such as fires or explosions and other damage. 

The respiratory tract is divided in three sections and is the entry way of such airborne contaminates. The first is the nasopharynx region which is the head region, including the nose, mouth, pharynx and larynx. The next is the tracheobronchial region which includes the trachea, bronchi, and bronchioles. Lastly is the pulmonary region which is made up of the alveoli; the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide through the process of respiration occurs in the alveolar region.The human trachea has a membrane lining that produces a layer of mucus that helps filter waste that an organism breathes in through the air. There is also a small lining of tiny hairs in our lungs called cilia. These tiny hairs act as a filter in our lungs and control the amount of mucus that enters our lungs. The reason why we cough is because the cilia push up the mucus, so not too much enters our lungs. If these hairs are not functioning properly, an organism is at risk of a lower respiratory tract infection. 

http://aerosolver.com/images/385_LungsWithSoot.jpg

The mucociliary escalator is a major defense and barrier against infection. When organisms that are headed to infect the respiratory tract get trapped in sticky mucus and sent up by this so called mucociliary escalator and then pushed towards the throat. 

http://www.colorado.edu/Outreach/BSI/k12activities/interactive/graphics/smucociliary.gif

Airborne contaminants can present a significant threat to worker health and safety. Materials present different threats and significant based on what it is and the size of it. Examples of these include mineral dust from extraction, metallic dusts, chemical dust, bulk, pesticides, vegetable dusts, wood, flour, cotton and tea, pollens, moulds and spores. 

http://elcosh.org/record/document/1563/dust.jpg

Lung disease can be classified into two different cases. Doctors may label lung conditions as obstructive lung disease or restrictive lung disease. Obstructive lung conditions include things that make it hard to exhale all the air in the  lungs. Restrictive lung conditions effect people in a manner that make it difficult to expand their lungs with air. Symptoms that pertain to these conditions both include shortness of breathe. Increased activity makes it harder to breathe because there is less time for the air to get into the lungs. 

Employers with chemical hazardous chemicals in their workplaces are required to provide labels and safety data sheets for the workers. They also must train them to be able to handle chemicals correctly.

Toxicology

Toxicology is defined as the branch of science concerned with the nature, effects, and detection of poisons. In other words it is the study of the dangerous effects of chemicals on living organisms. Chemicals may start to damage or harm the body or other living organisms when it enters or comes in contact with the body. This can happen numerous ways- inhalation (breathing), skin or eye contact, swallowing (ingestion or eating), or injection. The most typical way chemicals enter the body is through breathing contaminated air. Once a chemical is in the body it spreads through the blood stream and can damage organs. Chemicals can also be inhaled in multiple ways. The most common are through gases and vapors, mists, dust, fumes and smoke. Toxicologists also realize that even low-dose exposures that may seem minor or insignificant but may have biological meaning or lead to an adverse health effect if the exposure is continuous or happens during a critical window of development.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/1999/Oct/wk4/art02.gif

Biotransformation is the chemical modification made by an organism on a chemical compound. The body typically deals with a foreign compound by making it more water-soluble, to increase the rate of its excretion through the urine. There are many different processes that can occur; the pathways of drug metabolism can be divided into. Biotransformation falls under two phases- reaction I and reaction II. Reaction I includes oxidative, reductive and hydrolytic reactions which are either introduced or unmasked so the drug molecule becomes more water-soluble and can be excreted. Reaction II involves covalent attachment of small polar endogenous molecule such as glurcuronic acid, sulfate, or glycine and have a larger molecular weight. 

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Romina_Shah/publication/222300452/figure/fig1/AS:304765633351680@1449673197685/Fig-1-Schematic-diagram-of-the-biotransformation-of-xenobiotic-by-glucuronidation.png

LD50 stands for the lethal dose of an ingested substance. It kills fifty percent of a test sample and it is expressed in milligrams of substance per kilogram of the body weight. Different chemicals cause different toxic effects, which makes comparing the toxicity or one with another is a difficult task. For instance some chemicals might damage an organ more than another, or not at all. The most efficient way to do a lethality test is to measure how much of a chemical is required to cause death. 

http://www.annarbor.com/assets_c/2010/02/LD50%20definition-thumb-300x212-28574.jpg

Toxicology has multiple factors that influence how it works and takes action on organisms. Some of these influences include it's form and innate natural chemical activity, the dosage and how frequent that dosage is, the route in which the chemical enters the body, the life-stage of the person being contaminated, gender, it's ability to be absorbed, and lastly, metabolism. It is important for people to be aware of toxic chemicals that they may be coming in contact with, especially in the work place. Drinking, filtered purified water, wearing protecting gear such as work clothes, gloves and eye wear, washing hands, and knowing the exposure times are just a few tips to prevent injury or health problems. A toxicologist is a scientist or medical personnel who specializes in the study of symptoms, mechanisms, treatments and detection of venoms and toxins; especially the poisoning of people. 

1.