VOCs are chemical compounds that are classed as volatile as they easily evaporate, emitting molecules into the environment. Gas detection equipment can be used to monitor employee exposure to VOCs.
Ion Science produces gas detection equipment for identifying exposure to toxic amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
What is a Volatile Organic Compound?
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are substances with low boiling points that evaporate from liquids or solids utilized in industrial procedures, such as benzene from fuel or formaldehyde evaporating from paint.
Health and Safety Issues
As Volatile Organic Compounds exist as a gas at room temperature, the common method of exposure is through normal breathing. Exposure to dangerous VOCs can occur in the workplace, at home or outdoors.
Image Credit: Ion Science
Air Pollution
Public awareness of air pollution is now common and it is frequently included in weather forecasts along with UV levels. Volatile Organic Compounds are classed as air pollutants but provide additional challenges.
When heat and sunlight react with VOCs, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides (gases emitted from several industrial vehicles and processes), ozone is produced, and smog is created.
The distinct elements of smog can harm the environment and compromise human health, and produce a deadly cocktail when combined.
Smog can create or make health problems worse, for example, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, asthma and further respiratory conditions. The ozone in the smog also diminishes plant growth and can produce extensive harm to crops and forests.
These and other possibly dangerous volatile organic compounds, such as formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, ethylene and benzene, need to be precisely monitored.
The ability of organic chemicals to cause health effects varies greatly from those that are highly toxic, to those with no known health effect. As with other pollutants, the extent and nature of the health effect will depend on many factors including level of exposure and length of time exposed.
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Clean Air Strategy 2019
To further address the environmental and health and safety challenges regarding air pollution, the United Kingdom government launched a Clean Air Strategy in January 2019 to present how they will tackle all air pollution sources, protecting nature, boosting the economy and making the air healthier to breathe.
The strategy sets out how the government will:
- Protect the environment
- Protect the nation’s health
- Decrease emissions from homes, transport, industry and farming
- Monitor the progress
- Secure innovation and clean growth
Global Guidelines
The legal restrictions on exposure to and emissions of VOCs range from location to location and are outlined by organizations like the European Union and the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA.
There are no indoor air quality requirements for separate volatile organic compounds in the United Kingdom at present.
The recently updated Department for Education Guidance BB101: Ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality (DfE, 2018) suggested that the WHO (2010) Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) regulations are used in their absence.
Fixed, Portable and Personal VOC Detection
There are a number of tools that can be used for the identification of VOCs.
Photoionization detection (PID) is a widely used and established technique that efficiently identifies a wide range of VOCs over concentrations of interest. PIDs can be found in several formats, such as PID sensors and portable, personal and fixed PID instruments.
Factories and other locations where VOCs are often found will use fixed VOC detectors to observe their environment and conditions. These instruments supply constant measurement of volatile organic compounds in the air they sample and are permanently installed.
A Portable VOC detector, which is a lightweight piece of equipment, may be employed in combination with a fixed VOC detector to offer spot measurements. Lightweight, small VOC detectors can be fixed to clothing as part of the personal protective equipment provided to employees.
They are utilized to quantify and identify VOCs in any location where they may be found, either outdoors or indoors. This could be due to machinery failure, a spill or other unforeseen events.
The portable VOC detector is practical for monitoring confined spaces, for example, in decontamination monitoring, inside sewers and pipework and in industrial hygiene and safety.
A personal gas detector and monitor enables employees to work in the harshest of industrial applications, such as in restricted space and dangerous areas, with personal protection identifying and notifying the worker of harmful gas levels.
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Ion Science.
For more information on this source, please visit Ion Science.
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