Most people who work with hazardous gases, and particularly anyone with responsibility for regulatory compliance, will be familiar with the various ways of measuring workplace exposures to gas. You may have heard of short- and long-term exposure limits; these are used to quantify the amount of gas a worker can be exposed to without harm, and most gas detectors track them.
But why differentiate between a short-term and long-term exposure? Well, that has mainly to do with the ways in which gases can be harmful. Some gases (hydrogen cyanide, for example) can be almost immediately fatal if inhaled at a given concentration, but some gases remain harmless if present at or below a much lower level for extended periods of time.
If a worker’s long-term exposure is more than the safe level, however, then some gases can be seriously dangerous to health. And the company in charge may become legally liable because it will have failed to comply with gas regulations.
Non-compliance can get very expensive, very quickly. It is costly in both financial and reputational terms.
Why use TWAs?
Long-term and short-term workplace exposure limits (WELs) for gases are set out by local regulatory bodies. In the UK, the HSE document EH40 applies. Chronic exposure is often measured via a time-weighted average, or TWA. That means the worker’s exposure to a gas is monitored across a given period, usually 8 hours, to make sure the gas(es) remain(s) at or below the WEL throughout that time.
Unfortunately, it is incredibly easy to mess up a TWA measurement and thus fall foul of the regulations. This is because many standard gas detectors erase the TWA timer history when they are switched off, even if the 8-hour/TWA measurement period is ongoing. So, if an operator turns off one of these detectors because they are having lunch or moving between sites, then switches it back on again when they get back to work (bearing in mind this is a continuation of the TWA period they have already begun to track), the detector will assume that they are beginning a new TWA measurement period.
Clearly, this breaches regulations and can be very dangerous – Figure 1, above, shows why. In this example, the worker exceeds the safe limit at around 14:00 but the traditional device does not ‘see’ this or alert them. The Crowcon device with TWA Resume, however, does sound the alert. And that may save both the worker and the company from a great deal of harm.
What is TWA Resume?
The Crowcon T4 and Gas-Pro ranges have Crowon’s proprietary TWA Resume feature. This innovative and unique functionality makes sure accurate TWAs are recorded for each and every 8-hour/TWA period, keeping employees safe and removing the risk of non-compliance. Furthermore, it makes it easy for a firm to prove their compliance in the face of any legal claim.
TWA Resume is a patented feature only found on Crowcon devices. When turned off during the TWA measurement period, it stores TWA data in its memory. When a worker switches it back on, they can choose to resume measurement from where it left off, or start a new TWA measurement.
T4 and Gas-Pro detectors store this data in their logs, where is available for further analysis and to prove compliance. Even better, TWA alarms and near-miss data can now be easily exported into Crowcon Connect, a cloud-based portal that gives customers total data visibility. This makes it easy for them to prove compliance, and to be sure that their workers are safe.
Because TWA Resume is a patented Crowcon feature, only Crowcon can provide it. If you want to keep your staff safe while making regulatory compliance much easier, please contact us. We’ll be happy to give you more information on our patented TWA resume feature and discuss how it can help you and your business.