Abstract
Control of occupational exposures to hazardous chemical and physical agents costs industry more than 150 billion dollars per year. Development of a method to identify and control hazardous agents is a high priority for industry. The application of this method will save industry millions of dollars by pinpointing sources of exposure and enable them to invest in more cost/effective engineering and ergonomic solutions. The use of real-time instruments to measure and control hazardous agents is not new. However, the application of ergonomic principles and videographic techniques to link hazardous exposures to employee job functions is new. Such methods are particularly useful when the hazardous agents are highly toxic, have low regulatory limits (i.e., permissible exposure limits), and where changes in work organization and employee work practices can significantly increase or decrease exposure to such agents. This paper discusses how a system developed at Purdue University uses real-time instruments combined with videography to evaluate and control hazardous chemical and physical agents in the occupational environment.
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