Montreal researchers publish guide for managing nanoparticle risks

The first guide in Québec to deal with managing the risks associated with synthetic nanoparticles has been jointly published by Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé (IRSST), the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST) and NanoQuébec.
The guide sets out a prevention strategy appropriate to workers and researchers who use, manufacture or synthesize tiny, ultra-fine particles known as nanoparticles.
Nanoparticle (NP) research has a wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, optical and electronic fields. The field is so new that health and safety risks associated with the use of the particles are largely unknown.
The Best Practices Guide to Synthetic Nanoparticle Risk Management identifies a number of potential dangers associated with nanoparticles, including negative health effects.
“Because of their extremely small size, NPs can pass through the extrapulmonary organs while remaining solid,” the guide notes. “The NPs reaching the blood system circulate throughout the body and there is clear evidence that they can be retained by different organs, depending on the nature of the NPs. Several toxic effects have been documented for different organs and depend on the nature of the NPs.”
NPs can also influence the potential for flammable items to ignite and/or explode, although very little research has been done in this area, the report notes. The release of a cloud of NPs could also influence further catalytic reactions once a fire or explosion has occurred.
Health and safety laws concerning the storage and use of NPs are few and far between, according to the guide. “The current knowledge of NPs toxicity is insufficient to propose new standards that would protect workers effectively,” the guide notes. “The majority of Material Safety Data Sheets currently available do not allow the necessary preventive measures to be taken in relation to the actual risk, which is often unknown or underestimated.”
The guide recommends a “control banding” approach to mitigating workplace NP risk. It proposes that risk managers use four categories or “bands” when assessing NP risk.
The four bands, in order of least protective measures to most protective, are:
•    general ventilation;
•    fume hoods or local exhaust ventilation;
•    containment; and
•    seeking the advice of a specialist.
The band selected to assess risk will depend on the severity of the NPs’ toxicity as well as the probability of a release.
The full report can be downloaded at: http://www.irsst.qc.ca/en/home.html