Assessment of Chemical Health Risk (CHRA) in Three Industrial Technology Laboratories Using OSHA Approved CHRA and Modified CHRA
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Date
2015-09
Authors
PEI XI, CHANG
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Abstract
This study was conducted to assess the risk from exposure to hazardous
chemicals by postgraduate students in academic laboratories of Universiti Sains
Malaysia (USM). A total of 30 volunteer students working with 108 hazardous
chemicals were selected from three different laboratories which were wastewater
treatment laboratory, bioresource, paper and coating laboratory and food technology
laboratory. The chemical health risk assessment was conducted for 3 to 6 months
using the CHRA guidelines by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health
(DOSH) as well as three slightly modified versions of the CHRA. The assessments
were based on the direct observations of the students’ laboratory work and chemical
handlings. A series of assessments beginning from information gathering on
chemicals, followed with identification and characterization of hazardous chemicals,
evaluation of exposures to these chemicals, and finally risk evaluation of the hazards.
The modified CHRA used physicochemical properties such as boiling point (BP),
molecular weight (MW), partition coefficient (log P) and permeability coefficient
(log Kp) to determine magnitude rating (MR) while the conventional CHRA was
based on qualitative observations on magnitude of exposure. According to CHRA,
The risk ratings (RR) of chemicals used in all three of the laboratories were range
from 2 to 4 where 86.5% of chemicals were estimated to cause significant health risk
and not adequately controlled. In wastewater treatment laboratory, chemicals that
present the highest risk were epichlorohydrin, acrylamide, potassium dichromate,
mercury(II) sulphate, nickel(II) nitrate hexahydrate and 17α-ethynylestradiol. In
bioresource, paper and coating laboratory, chemicals that pose relatively serious
hazards were dibutyltin dilaurate, methanol and sodium azide. The highest risks
posed by chemical substances used in food technology were acetonitrile, methanol,
formamide and iodine monochloride. Chemicals that pose the lowest risk in all the
laboratories were potassium bromide and acetone. The chemicals used in wastewater
treatment laboratory were more hazardous and posed greater risk compared to the
chemicals used in another two laboratories. Students’ experimental techniques and
control measures are equally important to reduce chemical hazard. The most
comparable modified CHRA to conventional CHRA was using boiling point and
permeability coefficient to estimate skin absorption for magnitude rating (MR)
determination.
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Keywords
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) , Chemical Health Risk Assessement (CHRA)