The ability to quickly assess exposure allows hygienists to provide immediate value to their organizations. A traditional walkthrough assessment, combined with traditional sampling strategies, can provide a wealth of information to the hygienist. However, sampling results and the completed evaluation can take weeks. Without immediate feedback, important exposure assessment questions may remain unasked, and in worst-case scenarios, the gap between professional judgment and qualitative and quantitative information can lead to increased health risks and business interruptions. Eliminating this information gap enables the hygienist to quickly ask the correct exposure assessments questions and to greatly increase the probability that the right mitigation will be recommended the first time. Modern tools with varying complexity and limitations are now available to provide this information for many of the common hazards found in the workplace and community. However, a skilled practitioner is needed to select the appropriate tool, know its limitations, and interpret the results. This roundtable discussion will focus on evolving strategies for their use, and on the improved speed and quality they make possible for the exposure assessment process.
• The Evaluation of Direct-Reading Monitor Performance. C. Coffey, NIOSH, Morgantown, WV.
• Real-Time Personal Monitor for Assessment of Occupational Exposure. M. Dunham, GA Tech Safety & Health Consultation, Atlanta, GA.
• Development of Emission Spectroscopy Microsystems for Environmental Monitoring. A. Liberatore, Optomen Sensors Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada.
• Assessing and Compensating for the Impact of Humidity on the Accuracy of Real-Time Data Obtained from PIDs. G. Hewitt, ION Science, Waterbury, VT.
• Diffusive Samplers. L.E. Monteith, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
• A New Closed Path, Non-Dispersive Infrared Detection Technique for Measurement of Low Parts-Per-Million Range Hydrocarbon Gases and VOC Vapors. R.E. Henderson, GfG Instrumentation Inc., Ann Arbor, MI.
• Using Screening Measurements to Select Factories for a Molecular Epidemiology Study. T.W. Armstrong, TWA8HR Occupational Hygiene Consulting, Branchburg, NJ.
• Improved Exposure Assessment with Real-Time Chemical Detection and Identification. P. Smith, U.S. Navy, Bethesda, MD.