Control and Testing of Vacuum Cleaners for Use with Hazardous Solids

Abstract By design and convention, vacuum cleaners are used by workers of all skill and education levels. Ordinary vacuum cleaners have poor collection efficiency for particles less than 3 μm in diameter and therefore can produce an inhalation hazard when used to clean up toxic or radioactive materials. This fact often is unrecognized by workers and supervisors. Even High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtered units can be hazardous for such use if they are poorly designed or defective. An aggressive program of employee education, coupled with a procedure for clearly marking all non-HEPA filtered vacuum cleaners, is helpful in minimizing the misuse of vacuum cleaners. This program is described, and examples of cautionary stickers to be applied to both HEPA filtered and ordinary vacuum cleaners are shown. A successful method for field testing vacuum cleaners for aerosol penetration is described in detail. This method is similar to that used for in-place HEPA filter testing. All leakage aerosol is colle...