Design, Testing, and Modeling of Environmental Enclosures for Controlling Worker Exposure to Airborne Contaminants

Environmental enclosures such as cabs, booths, rooms, etc. are one of the mainstay engineering control methods for reducing operators’ exposure to airborne contaminants generated outside the enclosure. In order to achieve a cleaner air environment, air filtration is typically incorporated into the enclosure’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. NIOSH has jointly conducted collaborative research efforts with HVAC system manufacturers, cab filtration/pressurization component manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers of industrial vehicles, and companies using these cabs/environmental enclosures. This report summarizes NIOSH’s laboratory and field research results, provides key design guidelines for environmental enclosures, shows measurement methods for enclosure performance, and demonstrates mathematical modeling of filtration system designs.