Wearable air pollution monitors by CSU to test workers’ exposure

Small, wearable air pollution monitors intended to collect data on workers’ exposure to potential occupational health hazards are going to be developed by a team of Colorado State University engineers and social scientists, according to a CSU news release on Monday.

The new technology — made possible by a fouryear, $2.2 million grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — intends to make the difficult, expensive process of measuring workers’ airborne pollution intake more affordable, comprehensive and simpler, the news release said.

Workers have a federallymandated right to know what potential toxins they’re being exposed to, but the university said measuring those airborne pollutants and analyzing the results proves “difficult or impossible” for employers using current technology.

Ellison Carter and John Volckens in the Walter Scott Jr. College of Engineering are developing the device, pivoting off existing personal air sampler technology Volcken created.

Social scientists like CSU’s Elizabeth Williams are also on board, testing their hypothesis that the research will change workerand-organizational-level attitudes toward occupational hazard assessment and mitigation.

The researchers plan on testing the equipment, once developed, on workers at the Poudre Fire Authority.

“First responders are one of the most vulnerable workforces to environmental hazards, they put their lives at risk, and they often pay the ultimate price,” Volckens said.

“Part of our challenge is to develop something so vanishingly small and quiet and unobtrusive that those first responders will have no problem wearing these devices. A primary goal of this project is to help workers gain the information they need to make decisions that protect themselves from the unseen hazards in the air around them.”