Field validation of three passive dosimeters for excursion limit monitoring of ethylene oxide

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) set a 5-ppm excursion limit (EL) for ethylene oxide (EtO) in April 1988. Both active and passive sampling methods have been proposed for monitoring workers against this new standard. Passive dosimetry has considerable advantages over active sampling for monitoring short-term exposures to EtO, including reduced sampling and analysis complexity, increased chemical stability, and reduced cost. The major disadvantage of these passive methods is their questionable ability to meet the OSHA requirement for the test result to fall within +/- 35% of the "true" result with 95% confidence at the EL over a 15-min sampling period. A field validation study was performed to estimate the accuracy of three EtO EL passive dosimeters: 3M 3550/3551, Crystal Diagnostics AirScan, and Assay Technology EO CHEM CHIP. Area samples were taken at four unique concentration areas within a hospital products sterilization facility. A specially designed field exposure chamber was used to expose 12 dosimeters of each type concurrently at each sampling location while concurrently collecting six Tedlar bag samples from locations surrounding the dosimeter array. The Tedlar bag samples were analyzed on-site by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). To enhance the strength of this validation study, manufacturers of the dosimeters were requested to take part in the investigation. Their input was used during the design of the exposure chamber and study protocol and in the interpretation of the results. Two of the three dosimeter types were analyzed by the investigators.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)