Tacky Mat Update

[Dave Derenzo <dave@uic.edu>]

Dear Radsafers,

I have gotten a lot of responses to my inquiry regarding the use of Tacky
Mats and would like to share them with you.

Thanks to everyone who responded, the list is too long to acknowledge you
all individually.

Here is the summary:

There may be more than one manufacturer of these mats, but we have found
that the product called "Tacky Mats," appear to be manufactured
by Liberty Industries, 133 Commerce Street, East Berlin, CT 06023, (800)
828-8879.  Apparently they are used extensively in the clean room
business.  They have other products including the Tacky Roll Mop and
Shoe Brush.

This type of product is available from many suppliers including:

FRHAM Safey Proucts
Nashville, TN 
615-254-0841
or
Rock Hill, SC
803-366-5131
www.frhamsafety.com

G/O Corp (800-933-8501)

Atlantic Nuclear

G/O Corp (800-933-8501)

Lab Safety Supply

Nuclear Power Outfitters

Laminaire Corp. 
via Byron Ellis, Suite 6-607
7055 Engle Road
Middleburg Hts, OH 44130
216-826-0559

There are several styles made by Liberty Industries including the Tacky
Mat (blue in color), Biodegradable Mat (breaks down within 1 year),
Nuclear Mat (yellow with magenta printing), and Super Kleen Tacky Mat
(looks grey and is placed into a plastic "frame."  There
are a variety of sizes depending on the model.  It was suggested
that 24x24 was the optimal size and a warned was issued against the
variety that does not have a non-stick border around the edge (hard to
remove successive layers).

Almost everyone from power plants and national labs were very positive
about their experiences especially in regard to preventing the spread of
particulate contamination.  The down sides appear to be cost (which
is not an issue for I-131 therapies which last only a few days each), the
need to peel off used tacky mat surfaces when they are no longer tacky,
and the need to properly secure them to the floor (apparently the
manufacturer's peel and stick feature does not always cut the
mustard).

I did not receive any reply that reported on their performance for my
intended use, however, two people felt that since I-131 is volatile it
would escape the mats.  My guess is that this is true for some of
the I-131 contamination in patient rooms, but that there is also a great
deal of I-131 bound to organic matter from the patient since significant
quantities are being excreted in their urine, sweat, sputum, etc. 
In any case I am hoping it will prevent contamination from getting into
the hallway (generally not a problem,but medical residents especially are
notorious for forgetting or not knowing the safety procedures and have
sometimes caused a problem for us).

I have decided to give these mats a try, so I may be reporting back on
this issue in the somewhat distant future (we do 1 or 2 of these a
month).

Sincerely,
Dave Derenzo

 

  _/    _/  _/  _/_/_/_/    Dave Derenzo, MPH  (Dave@uic.edu)

  _/    _/  _/  _/            Radiation Safety Officer

  _/    _/  _/  _/            University of Illinois at Chicago

  _/    _/  _/  _/            Radiation Safety Section, MC932

  _/    _/  _/  _/            820 S. Wood St., Chicago, IL 60612-7314

  _/_/_/_/  _/  _/_/_/_/  Voice:(312)996-7429  Fax:(312)996-8776

  ______________________  URL:  http://www.uic.edu/~dave