Chromatographic Techniques in Industrial Hygiene

Abstract

Chromatographic techniques in industrial hygiene are defined as those separation and analysis techniques which rely on the separation of multiple chemical constituents by taking advantage of the differential adsorption, absorption, mobility, or affinity of the components in a system with a stationary phase (solid, liquid coated on solid, reactive substituent attached to solid surface, ion exchange resin, etc.) and a mobile phase (gas or liquid) which transports the separated constitutents to a detector for immediate identification and possible quantitation or to a collector for later identification and possible quantitation. By industrial (occupational) hygiene is meant that science and art which is the anticipation, identification, assessment, and control of chemical and physical hazards in the workplace (meant to include offices, places of business, retail establishments, and schools) and home. Included among those methods that make possible the identification and assessment of such hazards are those methods which are used to determine the concentration of airborne and surface chemical contaminants, as well as those which assess levels of exposure to chemical contaminants by the analysis of exhaled breath, blood, urine, or other biological samples.