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Screening Evaluation of Risk Assessment Tools that Assist in Exposure Assessment and Prioritization of Hazards in a Chemical Manufacturing Facility

Cundiff, Stephen J.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8661-020X
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1479820603595661

Abstract Details

2016, MS, University of Cincinnati, Medicine: Industrial Hygiene (Environmental Health).
Traditionally, industrial hygienists’ methods for identifying risks were limited and not systematic in nature. Industrial hygienists relied on their expertise and their judgment for identifying hazards, and for prioritizing risks in a workplace. Today, many tools are available to the risk assessor. Two experienced certified industrial hygienist’s (CIH) traveled to Monument Chemical to take part in a risk assessment study to determine if tools such as checklist and quantitative exposure assessments are beneficial in the identification of risk and the prioritization of chemical hazards. The CIH’s observed 25.7 percent of the same hazards while performing their walk through surveys of the areas. 74.3 percent of the hazards identified by one CIH was missed by the other. Categories were established to determine the difference in hazard identification. CIH 1 identified mostly piping systems, while CIH 2 identified mostly hazardous chemical exposures. The CIH’s rankings without using a risk assessment tool seemed to more closely resemble each other than the I.H. specialist’s rankings using a qualitative exposure assessment tool. Exposure sampling data from Monument was utilized as the metric for “true exposure”. A hazard index was calculated from this data to compare to expert judgment rankings. Without any statistical analysis it is hard to determine whether the CIH’s or the tool more closely resemble the ranking provided by the sampling data. However, differences in rank order were noted between the ranking tool and the expert judgments. This study demonstrates that having a checklist helps investigators remain cognizant of the details of a working area. However, if that checklist lacks certain hazard categories the investigator may not extend their surveillance outside of the checklist bounds. This study also demonstrates that using a quantitative tool to prioritize risks is systematic and consistent; however future research could include additional empirical sampling data to support more complete statistical results
Glenn Talaska, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Thomas Lentz, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
73 p.
Environmental Health
Risk Assessment; Exposure Assessment; Hazard Checklist; Prioritization; Assessment Tool; Chemical Manufacturing

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Cundiff, S. J. (2016). Screening Evaluation of Risk Assessment Tools that Assist in Exposure Assessment and Prioritization of Hazards in a Chemical Manufacturing Facility [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1479820603595661

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Cundiff, Stephen. Screening Evaluation of Risk Assessment Tools that Assist in Exposure Assessment and Prioritization of Hazards in a Chemical Manufacturing Facility. 2016. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1479820603595661.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Cundiff, Stephen. "Screening Evaluation of Risk Assessment Tools that Assist in Exposure Assessment and Prioritization of Hazards in a Chemical Manufacturing Facility." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1479820603595661

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1479820603595661
831
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.