A survey of airborne and skin exposures to chemicals in footwear and equipment factories in Thailand.

This research reports on a pilot industrial hygiene study that was performed at four footwear factories and two equipment factories in Thailand. Workers in these factories were exposed through inhalation and dermal contact to a large number of organic vapors from solvents and cements that were hand applied. In addition, these workers were exposed to highly toxic isocyanates primarily through the dermal route.

Novel algorithm for tomographic reconstruction of atmospheric chemicals with sparse sampling.

Numerical studies were performed to evaluate a new air monitoring method for reconstructing chemical exposures and source emissions, based upon optical remote sensing (ORS) and computed tomography (CT). With an ORS-CT system, two-dimensional maps of chemical concentrations can be created that have good spatial and temporal resolution. The mathematical algorithm used to compute the distribution is critical for accurate and useable reconstructions of the concentrations.

Field evaluation of a transportable open-path FTIR spectrometer for real-time air monitoring.

To effectively and accurately evaluate human exposures to chemicals, it is important to quantify mixtures of chemicals in air, at low levels, and in real time. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, in the field, a prototype of a new transportable instrument that can fill an important gap in methods available to industrial hygienists. This instrument is a cross between extractive and open-path Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometers and measures chemicals passively and in real time in the vicinity of the breathing zone.