The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists lists more than 170 chemicals with a skin hazard designation that supplements the Threshold Limit Values for inhalation concentration. Because about 13 million workers in the United States are potentially exposed to these chemicals, efforts are required to prevent dermal exposure that may contribute to systemic toxicity. In addition, dermatitis which is the primary cause of occupational disease is not generally covered by a skin notation. Protective clothing and gloves can reduce the risk but before a glove can be used, it needs to be tested. The ASTM has developed procedures which test the gloves for breakthrough time and permeation rate; but these tests are conducted in a laboratory and do not always represent field use conditions.

Passive dermal dosimeters allow personal protective equipment (PPE) to be evaluated for effectiveness under actual field use conditions. These sensors include both colorimetric detectors and charcoal pad systems. These methods greatly improve PPE selection for specific applications.

This paper will describe a Permea-Tec Sensor which utilize a charcoal pad for organic solvents. This pad will respond colorimetrically to polar organic compounds but can also be extracted by solvent or thermal desorption and analyzed by GC/FID for those compounds that are not sensitive to the color chemistry. Several compounds were spiked onto the sensors to compare desorption efficiency and also to test for storage of the chemicals on the pad. Both solvent extraction and thermal desorption were evaluated for their effectiveness in removing contaminants. Pads can be sent to the lab for analysis or desorbed in the field with a portable gas chromatograph.

The objective of the study is to evaluate both thermal desorption and solvent extraction in removing contaminants from this pad. By using thermal desorption, the industrial hygienist will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of a glove in the field.