Development of a Program for Performance Evaluation of University Specialty Local Exhaust Systems for Compliance with the OSHA Laboratory Standard

Abstract Research facilities at the university where this program was developed currently occupy about 3200 laboratories containing 900 chemical laboratory hoods. A program of annual surveys of hood performance has been in place for 30 years. In addition to chemical laboratory hoods, university laboratories also contain more than 1300 specialty local exhaust ventilation (SLEV) systems for laboratory instrumentation, engineering pilot plant operations, semiconductor fabrication clean rooms, and physical plant shops. To comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Laboratory Standard 1910.1450, which requires verification that engineering controls are performing adequately, we developed a program to monitor performance of SLEV systems. Program development included: (1) survey of all laboratory spaces and identification of SLEV systems; (2) classification of systems and uses; (3) evaluation of design criteria by comparison with existing American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hyggenis...