Air Monitoring During Initial Entry
Air monitoring should also be conducted to confirm the area considered for the Support Zone is clean.
Upon initial entry, representative air monitoring must be conducted Wherever the possibility of employee exposure to hazardous substances exists.
Air monitoring is conducted to identify:
- exposures exceeding the permissible exposure limits and published exposure levels
- IDLH concentrations
- potential skin absorption and irritation sources
- potential eye irritation sources
- explosion sensitivity and flammability ranges
- oxygen deficiency
If there is any question that contaminants may have migrated into the area considered for the Support Zone, air and/or surface soil samples should be collected and compared with on-site and off-site background samples.
To determine if additional monitoring is required to designate work zones, the site manager should evaluate the results of:
- the initial air monitoring survey,
- the visual characterization of site hazards,
- the properties of on-site contaminants, and
- potential pathways of contaminant dispersion.
During the site hazard evaluation, the site manager should evaluate the presence or potential for the release of contaminants into the air using information from:
- direct reading instruments,
- visible indicators (signs, labels, placards, etc.),
- other sources (manifests, inventories, government agency records, etc.), and
- limited air sampling may also be conducted if time is available.
Based on an assessment of this preliminary information, a more comprehensive air monitoring strategy should be developed and implemented.
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4-2. When does HAZWOPER require air monitoring be performed?
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