VOC Exposure Monitoring

Monitor and control the VOC exposures in your workplace. Keep your staff safe and ensure that you remain compliant.

Exposure to VOCs

Exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) occurs in a wide variety of industrial, medical, and office settings.

They are used in solvents, fixing agents, air fresheners, paints and glues. As a result, exposure can occur in most settings. Synergy’s occupational hygiene consultants use the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) from the product manufacturers to see which volatile organic compounds are in use during a task. We can also conduct VOC exposure monitoring to provide a list of the most prevalent compounds. This is useful if there is a mixture of solvents, or when the source is not known. They are generally known as ‘top 10’ or ‘top 5’ VOC analysis. They find unknown compounds and therefore help to identify the health effects of the Volatile organic compound mixture. Furthermore, this allows us to advise on the control measures an employer should use.

Health Effects of Volatile Organic Compounds

Although some VOCs have specific health risks, most produce similar short-term effects. These include irritation of the eyes, throat and lungs, dizziness, drowsiness and headaches. At the same time, Long term effects include loss of coordination and damage to the liver and kidneys. Due to the ways that they can work together (synergistic effect), small amounts of many volatile organic compounds working together can produce a more substantial impact on the worker.

Measuring VOCs

Synergy conducts monitoring for volatile organic compounds using sorbent tubes attached to pumps. These are useful to measure the exposures of operatives who work in a stationary manner or for sampling background concentrations. We also sample using small badges, which require no pump. These badges rely on the movements of the operative. The VOC exposure monitoring follows HSE documents MDHS 88 ‘Volatile Organic Compounds in Air’ (passive) or MDHS 96 ‘Volatile Organic Compounds in Air’ (pumped), dependent on the type of sampling.

Controlling Volatile organic compounds

Controlling Volatile Organic Compounds

The HSE expects employers to use local exhaust ventilation (LEV) systems to control the release of vapours when handling solvent containing substances. Companies should test and maintain these systems in line with HSE guidance HSG258 ‘Controlling airborne contaminants at work’. Synergy offers these testing services and recommends combining VOC workplace air monitoring with LEV testing whenever possible.