Monitoring Decontamination of People and Equipment

Each day during confinement and clean-up operations to remediate oil spills, workers numbering in the hundreds or even thousands skim oil and move booms along the shore or other perimeters to either prevent oil from reaching beaches and marshes or to remove it once it is ashore. Depending on concentrations and weather conditions, some workers can report severe headaches, dizziness, nausea and difficulty breathing, which can be associated with coming into contact with spilled oil and oil dispersants.

And while protective outerwear keeps the oil off of the workers’ skin, it must be disposed of along with booms and other gear employed in the cleanup process. Those pieces of equipment that are not disposable, including rakes, shovels, and other tools, must be thoroughly cleaned, and during that process VOCs (volatile organic compounds) can be released. To minimize exposure risk, there should be VOC monitoring during cleaning.

The containers full of the oil and other captured contaminants should be monitored until they are relocated and processed. In addition to benzene, xylene, toluene, and components of the dispersant, hydrogen sulfide is also likely to be present in this scenario and should be monitored.

Recommended RAE Systems Gas Detectors

In all of these activities, using portable handheld MiniRAE 3000 and ppbRAE 3000 monitors can help to ensure that that people are not being overexposed to VOCs that can cause temporary or long-term health threats. The MiniRAE 3000 or MultiRAE Plus can be used to detect total VOCs, and the MultiRAE Plus adds the capability to also measure Hydrogen Sulfide (H₂S).