An Ontario laboratory was quarantined following a chemical exposure occurrence and the company is working with the Ministry of the Environment to effect a clean up.
According to the Canadian OH&S News, Hamilton, Ontario-based Stern Laboratories Inc, which conducts safety tests for nuclear reactor and fuel vendors and manufactures equipment for handling spent nuclear fuel rods, among other things, had a beryllium exposure in one of their labs at the end of July. The Hamilton Spectator stated workers were testing a fuel bundle that contained beryllium in an alloy form when the beryllium was exposed. (WCxKit)
Beryllium, a by-product of aluminum smelting commonly used as a hardening agent, becomes a danger when it is heated or worked with to create particles, fumes, or mists, according to information from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Washington, D. C.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Labour says following the testing of a piece of equipment, dust was tested and found to contain beryllium. Air monitoring and swipe sampling also took place.
The company is still trying to determine how many employees were in the area at the time of the exposure, according to reports.(WCxKit)
Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act lists the 8-hour limit for beryllium exposure at 0.002 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3), but the provincial government is considering lowering the exposure limit to 0.00005 mg/m3, reports Lorraine Shaw, the lab manager of the Occupational and Environmental Health Laboratory at McMaster University in Hamilton.
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