EVALUATING EXPOSURES UNDER OSHAS 1984 ETO STANDARD

我们建议根据OSHA 1984年环氧乙烷（EtO）标准对工人暴露进行历史评估。 大多数可能接触的工人是受雇于医院部门的妇女，医院部门使用环氧乙烷对医疗器械进行消毒。定量和定性干预研究方法将应用于三个现有的数据来源：马萨诸塞州医院环氧乙烷健康和安全研究，OSHA的综合管理信息系统（IMIS），和全国数据库的克恩医疗公司，一个商业供应商的环氧乙烷被动剂量计。我们的具体目标是：1）表征EtO暴露：表征将包括医院和其他行业中EtO暴露随时间变化的汇总测量值，以及按行业、工作场所和个体工人划分的暴露分布的初步表征。 在可行的情况下，还将进行基于职称或工作任务的描述。2)确定EtO过度暴露的潜在决定因素：将使用来自马萨诸塞州医院研究和克恩医学数据库的数据，开发三种类型的EtO过度暴露事件（是/否）和两种类型的定量暴露水平（平均轮班和短期）的潜在决定因素的多变量回归模型。自变量包括工程控制、灭菌器类型、EtO使用频率、监测频率和EtO健康和安全培训。 该定量方法将通过对EtO标准品通过、控制措施实施和暴露水平随时间变化之间关系的定性评估进行补充。3)评估环氧乙烷标准的合规性：为了评估OSHA执法工作检测到不合规的程度，我们将比较OSHA IMIS数据库对环氧乙烷标准不合规发生率的估计与来自马萨诸塞州医院研究和Kem Medical数据库的独立估计。 将进行这些分析，以符合标准的所有主要部分以及暴露限值。最后，仅使用Kem Medical数据库，将使用传统OSHA方法（超过限值或未超过限值）与将所有收集的暴露数据纳入真实平均暴露超过限值的可能性测量的替代方法对OSHA EtO暴露限值合规性的判断进行比较。

We propose to conduct a historical evaluation of worker exposures under OSHA's 1984 ethylene oxide (EtO) standard. Most potentially-exposed workers are women employed in the hospital sector where EtO is used to sterilize medical devices. Quantitative and qualitative intervention research methods will be applied to three existing sources of data: the Massachusetts Hospital EtO Health and Safety Study, OSHA's Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), and the nationwide database of Kern Medical Corporation, a commercial vendor of EtO passive dosimeters. Our specific aims are to: 1) Characterize EtO Exposures: Characterization will include summary measures of EtO exposures over time in the hospital and other industries and preliminary characterization of exposure distributions by industry, by workplace, and by individual worker. To the extent feasible, job title- or job task-based characterizations will also be conducted. 2) Identify Potential Determinants of EtO Overexposures: Multivariate regression models of the potential determinants of the three types of EtO overexposure events (Yes/No) and two types of quantitative exposure levels (average workshift and short-term) will be developed using data from the Massachusetts Hospital Study and the Kern Medical Database. Independent variables include engineering controls, sterilizer types, EtO usage frequency, monitoring frequency, and EtO health and safety training. This quantitative approach will be complemented by qualitative assessments of the relationships between the passage of the EtO standard, the implementation of control measures, and changes in exposure levels over time. 3) Assess Compliance with the EtO Standard: To assess the extent to which OSHA enforcement efforts have detected non-compliance, we will compare OSHA IMIS database estimates of the prevalence of non-compliance with the EtO standard with independent estimates from the Massachusetts Hospital Study and the Kem Medical database. These analyses will be conducted for compliance with all principal sections of the standard as well as with exposure limits. Finally, using the Kem Medical database alone, judgments of compliance with OSHA's EtO exposure limits will be compared using traditional OSHA approaches (exceeded limits or not) versus an alternative approach that incorporates all collected exposure data into a measure of the likelihood that true mean exposure exceeds limits.