• robyn moses
    62
    Food safety directives such as the target to reduce foodbourne campylobacter poisoning in NZ by 20% by 2025 do not speak to the occupational exposure concerns for workers in facilities where powerful antimicrobial chemicals use is increased/introduced.
    No valid workplace exposure standard is set for the combinations of chemicals used due to the inability to lab produce air samples similar to what the workers are exposed to because of daily processing variables e.g. organic loading, chemical residues left between shifts, self-regulated dosing systems, performance of upstream equipment/people, blocked filters etc. etc.
    The most powerful antimicrobial used produces chlorine dioxide gas so that is our facilities set WES we work too and the controls implemented are to combat that exposure e.g. automated mixing/dosing/dilution/shutdown systems, ventilation etc.
    But because of the limitations associated with air sampling and reports of health symptoms workers are required to wear full face respirators with P3 filters which makes the head piece heavy and cumbersome. To retain workers, workers were only required to don the PPE should Cl02 monitors alert or an odour is detected. That was to ad hoc for me because even when the monitors were not going off the odour and physical reactions said something was wrong so management have agreed to extend conveyor systems etc. to transport the product to the workers, working outside of the hazardous zone, so that 2/3s of my exposed workers removed from the hazard.
    Now the change of process means that two workers will now need to work in the hazardous area for up to an hour at a time several times throughout the shift and the work they will be doing is physical incl. up and down steps, under machines and from room to room in a wet work environment.
    So my question is how much physical activity can we expect to ask of someone in a full face respirator taking into account carbon dioxide, wet environment/filters etc.
    I am trying to make a case to keep the 2 workers out of that environment by investing in equipment that will not require them to go in (in a time where capital expenditure is on hold for 12 months) or they write the product off that the workers will be dealing with while in the environment potentially 1000s of dollars.
    Obviously I am not all of managements favourite person at the moment, its hard work being the sole occupational safety and health voice trying to get equal manner as their commitment to food safety. And the hazards raised here are common in primary industries similarly no set standards are set for dust/dander/ammonia in animal sheds because there are too many variables to reproduce it.
  • Andrew
    387

    Robyn
    With a change to weld fume WES we put our our team of welders and a few other workers in positive air respirators. Much to my surprise the overwhelming feed back was "we love them!'. Not one single word of complaint. I had to be picked off the floor - there's always someone that complains about change.

    Some of our people will work 12 hours a day and 5 on saturdays in this gear. You'll see them walking to smoko in it. Its physical work - on their feet all day. And not a single complaint.
  • Yonny Yeung
    11
    Yes agree with Andrew.
    We used a 3M positive air respirator helmet in a lawnmowing business, and best money ever spent. No more allergic reactions, sneezing, watery eyes, runny nose.
    We had the P2 filters, but they should be able to be paired with P3 filters.
    With the replacement model, I found the airflow is less than what we had in the previous model. As you can imagine there are a lot of walking around, the screen does fog up and you feel a bit breathless. There wasn't a way to adjust the airflow, so we had to return it, as you don't want to feel like you are in a plastic bag.
    The older model was a full face helmet looking respirator, the air flows through the back top of your head, down your face, and comes out at the neck.

    If the process can be remotely controlled / automated in a sealed area, that would be the best solution. Your chance of getting in contact with the harmful chemical on a regular basis is much lower.

    I might have watched this on TV too many times before, but I would imagine even with the lab fume hoods (exhaust hoods), there is a big chance of residue or fumes not captured by the hood.

    On a side note, Worksafe mentioned bitumen and asphalt are class 1 (known) carcinogens. Can you imagine one day we are going to see asphalt workers working with a full face positive air respirator on the road?
  • Steve H
    308
    If the process can be remotely controlled / automated in a sealed area, that would be the best solution. Your chance of getting in contact with the harmful chemical on a regular basis is much lower.Yonny Yeung

    Isolation is the second best option if the entire process can't be eliminated from the workplace. Reading Robyn's post,it sounds like major CapEx is on hold, but she does have some proposals in the pipeline to do that when the budget situation changes.

    On a side note, Worksafe mentioned bitumen and asphalt are class 1 (known) carcinogens. Can you imagine one day we are going to see asphalt workers working with a full face positive air respirator on the road?Yonny Yeung
    Same with workers cutting into concrete Yonny, what sort of price are you paying for a 3M positive air respirator?
  • Yonny Yeung
    11
    Hi Steve, our last one was about $5k, and that was a long time ago.

    Silica dust risk is getting more attention now Worksafe and Safe Work Aus have published a few articles to make people aware of the potential risk. I was interested to learn a number of spill absorbent contains silica dust (especially you have to spread it, broom it around and sweep them up).

    Not wishing to become like State of California with their Proposition 65, I thought a little more education is required on the carcinogen topic. One source says only certain extracts of bitumen and asphalt causes cancer and at a very high temperature. That temperature might be in the production phase, but not when being applied on the road, so it might not be as bad as I thought.
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