[Histonet] Re: xylene and preggers

[Theresa (Teri) Johnson]

Sarah,

To answer your first question, what is .75%? The permissible exposure limit for xylene is 100 ppm (435 mg/cubic meter of air) for an 8-hour time-weighted average, and 150 ppm (655 mg/m3) for a 15 minute short term exposure limit. How does .75% fit in to that? (Sorry to answer a question with a question)

The second question is a little trickier. A quick google search will show that there are a lot of answers to this one. Some issues require a judgment call with how to proceed. Their primary responsibility is to protect the company. They may take a "need to know" approach to some issues. So in this case, they may give a heads up to a manager if they think there is an issue they may need to deal with.  In my opinion, health issues should be protected information as is other sensitive employee info such as pay rates and performance evals. Remember that managers are usually privy to this information as well.

Teri Johnson, HT(ASCP)QIHC
GNF Histology Lab Manager
Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation
858-332-4752