The Paths Of Chemical Exposure

The Safety Hierarchy states that hazards should be mitigated first by engineering controls, secondly by guarding, and lastly by warning/training. When the first two, engineering controls and guards, fail in a manufacturing setting, a chemical release could occur.

A forensic chemical engineer can help determine the root cause of that failure.

Releases from failures like these cause thousands of workers every year to be injured on the job due to chemical exposure.

Every one of those can be classified into one of the four paths to chemical exposure: injection, ingestion, inhalation, and absorption.

Each of these paths can be blocked by specific personal protective equipment (PPE).