Stacy,
       I have to disagree with your statement that OSHA requires annual
monitoring for formaldehyde.  In the OSHA regulations (Federal Register,
section 1910.1048 Formaldehyde) it states that initial monitoring should be
performed after the employer has determined that there are employees that
may be at or above the action level.  If the employer does not wish to
monitor each employee, they can develop a representative sampling strategy
and measure sufficient exposures within each job classification to correctly
characterize and not underestimate the exposure of any employee within each
exposure group.  The initial monitoring process need only be repeated (if
the initial monitoring was below the exposure limits) if there are changes
in production, equipment, process, personnel, or control measures which may
result in new or additional exposure to formaldehyde.
       Periodic monitoring (once every 6 months if last monitor was above
the action level, or once a year if above the STEL) is needed only for
employees who were shown by the initial monitoring to be exposed at or above
the STEL.
       Monitoring may be terminated if the results from two consecutive
sampling periods taken at least 7 days apart show that the employee exposure
is below the action level and STEL.

       Anyway, that is a simplified version or the regulations and more
information is contained in the registry.  Unless you have had a monitor
above the limits or suspect that there are exposures that could be above the
limit, yearly monitoring is not needed.  At our institution, we do an
initial monitor (X2) on every new employee.  We will re-monitor (X2) any
employee using new equipment or procedures we feel may increase their
exposures and monitor our areas of most exposure (gross bench and person who
changes the processor) every three of four years just for the heck of it.
CAP honors the OSHA guidelines, I am not positive about JCAHO.

Tammy Barnhart, BS, HTL(ASCP)
Anatomic Pathology Supervisor
St. Alexius Medical Center
Bismarck, ND
tbarnhart@primecare.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Stacy McLaughlin [mailto:Stacy_McLaughlin@cooley-dickinson.org]
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 10:59 AM
To: 'Chung, Luong'; Histonet (E-mail)
Subject: RE:


Hello,
OSHA and JCAHO require that monitoring for these be done annually.  We do
our monitoring of the tasks that will result in the highest levels of
exposure.  There are requirements for short term exposure limits (15
minutes) or time weighted averages (8 hours).  You can do individual
monitoring of techs and monitoring in areas that have high levels of these
vapors.
Your safety officer should be able to help you with more info.
Stacy McLaughlin, HT
Lead Tech Histology
Cooley Dickinson Hospital

-----Original Message-----
From: Chung, Luong [mailto:lchung@ppmh.org]
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 10:23 AM
To: Histonet (E-mail)
Subject: 


Hi all, 

Kinda quite lately...  

Can anyone tell me how often do you all do a formaldehyde and xylene
monitor?  Do you do one for individual tech or just one for the entire lab?

Thanks

Bruce Chung, MSM, CT(ASCP)
Anatomic Pathology Manager
(229) 312-6130

 
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