Occupational Health

Health effects are known to depend on particle size and number as well as the chemical nature of the particles. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have launched a five year programme to investigate the impact of nano-particles on human health and the US EPA has allocated significant funds for developing regulations to control the release and presence of nano-particles in the air.

All heavy industries involving processes emitting fumes have potential problems with the emission of nano-particles. This includes industries such as smelting, firing, glass manufacture, welding, soldering, nuclear power generation and incineration. There is also concern amongst consumer companies that enzymes in washing powders, powder coatings and fibers used in disposable nappies and other products could cause problems. To date, emissions have been recognised as potential problems but there has been no effective way of studying the problem in-situ and linking exposures to health effects.

A recent review of available instrumentation by the Institute on Occupational Medicine in the UK concluded that current instrumentation was inadequate. In particular there was a lack of robust portable instruments capable of size resolving and counting nano-particulates in the air. This gap is addressed by Naneum instruments, with both the investigative devices currently available.

Products that are relevant for Occupational Health:

The Nano-ID Select is a wide-range sampler and is unique in that it spans the entire aerosol range from 2 nm up to 20 μm. Particles are collected simultaneously using both inertial deposition and diffusion, and separated into 12 size channels. Read More...

The Nano-ID NPS500 sets a new standard for high sensitivity and selectivity aerosol measurements. It provides the ability to measure particle size distributions over a range of 5 nm to 500 nm with 128 user-selectable channels. Read More...