Evaluation of occupational exposure to high-level disinfectants in endoscopic services in an Italian hospital

The aim of this study is the evaluation of exposure to airborne, high-level disinfectants to efficiently organize prevention of the risks due to the manipulation of these substances in the endoscopic units in medical facilities. In field and personal samples in the breathing zone of the workers were taken in 27 endoscopic units in a hospital during the replacement of high-level disinfectants in basins, tubes and lavaendoscopes. After a campaign of environmental monitoring of glutaraldehyde in nineteen endoscopic units (176 employees) of the hospital and considering the entity of glutaraldehyde problem, two substitutes, peracetic acid and electrolyzed acid water, have recently been introduced. The level of glutaraldehyde was higher than the TLV-Ceiling in 13 out of 19 working units, while the value of peracetic acid resulted higher than TLV-TWA in 1 out of 15. EAW has recently been used in two units and the chlorine environmental concentrations resulted lower than the sensibility limit of the method (<75 microg/m3). The results obtained during this study of measurements allowed to identify those operations which have the highest degree of risk for employees; this serves for taking suitable measures for prevention and individual protection as well as for evaluating current practices and decisional processes in the hospital.