Re: dust mask usage

["Roy Craft" <rcraft@wcnet.net>]

My problem in hanging anything around the neck, waiting for high airborne
radioactivity, or any other nasty material for that matter, is that the
apparatus becomes a super dooper plooper scooper.  Large particles can
become entrapped on the "filter' material, when lifted to the mouth, the
not-respirable particle can then be inhaled or ingested.

Just remembering an example from when half masks were authorized, and when
the person talked, he let the half mask hang down. A 0.34 microcurie  cobalt
particle was ingested.  Of Course, it came out the next morning.   The next
time the particle may be dissolved in the mouth or gut.

Roy C. Craft, CHP
rcraft@wcnet.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Archer, Joe <archerj@wipp.carlsbad.nm.us>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Monday, April 26, 1999 5:09 PM
Subject: dust mask usage


>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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