Guide To Community Air Monitoring Plan Services
As sites are under construction, transporting materials, excavating, and disposing of contaminants, it is vital to ensure the safety of those at the workplace and the surrounding community. Having a community air monitoring plan in place will ensure the safety of all.
A community air monitoring plan, or CAMP for short, is a plan that involves keeping track of the air in places that may be prone to air pollution. In real-time, air monitoring devices are placed in key locations to monitor particulates (i.e., dust) and volatile organic compound vapors (VOCs) at the downwind perimeter of particular work areas.
Having the plan in place will detect any contamination in the air, providing a measure of protection for the downwind community. The goal is to protect off-site workers and residents from airborne contaminant releases as the work is performed on a particular site.
Do you want to ensure your workplace and community have safe air to breathe? Are you wondering why you’ll need a Community Air Monitoring Plan (CAMP) to ensure that?
This article addresses your questions and more.
Community Air Monitoring Plan Basics
CAMP is an air monitoring program prepared by the New York State Department of Health. Places that often receive monitoring are sites with heavy metals and other areas with concerns of particulates moving into residential areas. The data collected from this can better inform future emission-reduction plans for communities.
While monitoring the area, if the organic vapors stay between the 0 and 1 ppm range, the on-site work can continue as planned; however, if the ppm range rises above 5ppm, the work activities must halt. The proper actions to identify and eliminate the source must be taken.
Monitoring particulates uses the same approach. Normal operations are allowed if the downwind perimeter has around 150 μg/m3. If less than 100 μg/m3 is found while monitoring, work activities halt, and corrective actions begin.
Types of Hazards
There are many harmful outdoor contaminants, and they can easily find their way indoors. Having a temporary or long-term CAMP in place will ensure that everyone sharing the space is safe from bacteria, formaldehyde, asbestos and other. For example, indoor and outdoor moisture can become a hazard with mold growth.
The Community Air Monitoring Process
The community air monitoring process starts by establishing and defining the level of data quality needed to meet the action-focused objectives followed by:
- Determining the areas of concern that need to have a community air protection plan in place.
- Identifying the monitoring methods and equipment for sustainability and to meet the selected goals.
- The quality control procedures will be established to ensure data is scientifically defensible.
- A description of how data will be collected and managed will be played out.
- The air monitoring field procedures and timeline will be set.
Learn More About Community Air Monitoring Plans
Phase Associates can provide you with an overview of our community air monitoring plan. In addition, we will explain the process of safe air quality on a site to keep the work area and the surrounding community safe.
Do you want to know more about Community Air Monitoring Plans (CAMP) services and how you can have them implemented? Contact Phase Associates. We are happy to serve New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, and Virginia.
Also, be sure to look at our Phase Associates website and browse through all the different indoor air quality services that can ensure safe indoor air quality for all situations.
We also have a blog with additional resources such as learning about the Clean Air Act, indoor air quality, workplace safety, environmental sustainability, EHS consulting and training, and more.