Safety SOPs - Exposure Program for Carbon Monoxide

K

Karen R

#1
Greetings,

I'm looking to develop a procedure outlining work in our furnace area, where employees may be subject to carbon monoxide exposure. We have instruments they carry to monitor CO levels, but we'd like to establish a protocol for how long they can work in the area at given CO levels. I have the OSHA, NIOSH and MIOSHA PEL and TWA information, but have found nothing so far as a sample program.

We're looking to put together something like you'd see for heat stress - at these levels you can work so long...

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated :thanx:

Karen
 
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Q

qualeety

#2
CO info

Karen R said:
Greetings,

I'm looking to develop a procedure outlining work in our furnace area, where employees may be subject to carbon monoxide exposure. We have instruments they carry to monitor CO levels, but we'd like to establish a protocol for how long they can work in the area at given CO levels. I have the OSHA, NIOSH and MIOSHA PEL and TWA information, but have found nothing so far as a sample program.

We're looking to put together something like you'd see for heat stress - at these levels you can work so long...

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated :thanx:

Karen
check the following website.. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pdfs/7311000a.pdf
It contains the info you are seeking....section 1 - work environment provides the exposure limits for employees...and NO, there is no gradual scale for CO exposure...it is all or none type of deal....if you need more info, ask :)
 

Randy

Super Moderator
#3
1st, if you're not a safety professional you and your company are wrong with having you develop a program.

2nd, if you have access to the regulatory requirements as you state, read them. The regulations will specifically tell you how to develop a program to meet their requirements.

3rd, a couple of good places to go for sample programs would (1) through your state's own OSHA office, within the Fed OSHA's website (they have sample programs) or possibly through these links http://hazard.com or http://www.ehso.com/index.htm

4th, non-professionals working in areas such as occupational health and safety compliance and environmental compliance can create more risk (civil and criminal) for and organization and for themselves as individuals than they can imagine. When you start doing work like you described you are assuming a level of personal liability for both your actions and omissions/errors due to lack of competence/expertise. :soap:

But then again what would I know about safety programs anyway.
 
K

Karen R

#4
Guys - thanks for the links.

Randy - thanks for your concern too. While I work very closely with our plant and corporate EH&S professionals, the forum is open to all and your words of caution are wise.

We have scoured the regs, now we're looking to put together some simple guidelines for the guy on the floor. Our current program is all-or-nothing, which we know is more restrictive than necessary. Our challange is to develop a guideline that doesn't require our production personnel to become regulatory or industrial hygiene experts, while ensuring we don't put any one in harms way. My hope was to save the time required to create something from scratch if there was already a good model out there.
 
Q

qualeety

#5
Karen R said:
Guys - thanks for the links.

Randy - thanks for your concern too. While I work very closely with our plant and corporate EH&S professionals, the forum is open to all and your words of caution are wise.

We have scoured the regs, now we're looking to put together some simple guidelines for the guy on the floor. Our current program is all-or-nothing, which we know is more restrictive than necessary. Our challange is to develop a guideline that doesn't require our production personnel to become regulatory or industrial hygiene experts, while ensuring we don't put any one in harms way. My hope was to save the time required to create something from scratch if there was already a good model out there.
Not sure what industry you are working for but you can put "continuous" monitoring CO detector, hooked up to a ventilation system (if you have any) then you don't have to worry about about anything!!!!....except monthly verification of "ventilation system" and bi-annual verification/calibration of CO monitor...contact CO monitor companies and they will help you.

if you have no ventilation system, then you can hook up to an alarm system where employee can evacuate when certain level of CO is reached.

Remember, no matter what you do, you must comply with federal/state regulations as Randy mentioned early.

All the best and if you have something better, please let me know....am always interested in new methods
 
K

Karen R

#6
Thanks for the ideas. We've talked about a continuous monitor, but it's not the best-suited system for our needs. We run a continuous galvanizing line that includes an eight-story annealing furnace. The exterior area that our techs occasionally enter is fairly ventilated, in fact we recently replaced much of the diamond plate flooring with grating to improve the situation. But occasionally we experience pockets of CO. We're always looking for ways to eliminate it, but with a giant furnace the possibility will always exist. Fortunately, our need to be in that area when we’re running is minimal. Unless it’s a bad day :rolleyes:

If we end up creating a program, I'll shoot you a copy!
 
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