Re: dust mask usage

[Brian Rees <brees@lanl.gov>]

For what it's worth... In a conversation I had with some Russian visitors
about 2 years ago, they claimed a protection factor of 200 for surgeon's
mask!  We were discussing Pu-238 work, so I'm fairly confident they had
some sort of testing data, with 238 your margin's pretty slim.  They wore
the masks all the time in case a release occurred, and were surprised that
we didn't.  They did understand the importance of keeping the material on
the other side of the glovebox, but said that the consequences were high
enough that continuous mask use was indicated.   

(Obviously) my own opinion 

Brian Rees
Plutonium Facility and LACEF Health Physics Operations
Los Alamos National Laboratory
brees@lanl.gov



At 03:08 PM 4/26/99 -0500, you wrote:
>We are a facility where the potential for an accident is very low but
>the consequences could be large. I would not shackle our workers with
>respirators for a very low probability event even if I could take
>precautions that are not legally required. However, I am interested in
>evaluating the performance of paper/cloth dust masks worn around the
>neck as a cheap, simple, and "reasonable" measure to minimize the
>consequences of an unlikely, but potentially serious accident. I also
>believe they could be justified as a cheap personal air sampler if
>nothing else. Our IH guy has a problem with any inferrence that a dust
>mask provides respiratory protection and opposes any argument that they
>can provide any benefit from a worker protection standpoint.
>
>My questions to all Radsafers is this "Does the idea of wearing a 50
>cent surgeons masks around your neck and covering your mouth with it as
>you exit a room where a potential release has occurred seem like a
>reasonable suggestion?". Would you say it qualifies as ALARA?  Does the
>fact that a dust mask does not guarantee a specific level of protection
>invalidate it as a reasonable tool for mitigating an uptake? Would the
>use of a rag be more likely to indicate an uptake than a nasal smear?
>If you were in a room where a release occurred and you had a dust mask
>handy, would you breath through the mask as you exited or would you not
>breath through the mask on the grounds that it was not NIOSH approved?
>Your comments are greatly appreciated.
>
>Joe Archer
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