Coming from a firefighting/atomic energy worker background I can tell you that we always solved these issues by going to the best protection that we have – full face respirators, either air supplied or with N100 cartridges installed and Tyvek coveralls. The rule of thumb is simple – no exposure to anything in the lungs/respiratory tract except air. That way the employer uses due diligence and the employee is fully protected, able to work an 8 hour shift with minimal risk.

 

 

I have a curiosity question. We seem to have significantly differing past experiences within a group of colleges with respect to whether respiratory protection has been required to keep exposures below action levels when chemically cleaning, moving or stacking lead bricks. At some institutions, there's a rule of thumb (based on previous monitoring) that handling as few as 5 bricks requires full face respirators. Others say they have monitoring data where they've manipulated hundreds of bricks with no issues. So I'm curious if there's anyone out there with experience you would care to share.

 

Kim

 

Kimberly Begley Jeskie, MPH-OSHM

Operations Manager

Physical Sciences Directorate

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Office: (865) 574-4945

Cell: (865) 919-4134