In response to an abatement action required by Tennessee Occupational Health and Safety Administration (TOSHA), Fisher & Arnold (F&A) completed an industrial hygiene study to assess employee exposure to welding fumes at a West Tennessee industry.

F&A collected industrial hygiene sampling in the welding area to verify that a newly installed local ventilation system was effective. Samples were collected for total dust and welding fumes using a personal sampling pump worn by an operator in the welding area. During the sampling event, the operator's tasks included welding metal parts and transferring metals parts either to be welded or post welding. A local ventilation system that was manually adjusted for removal of weling fumes.

The results of the sampling event verified that the local ventilation system was maintaining the concentration of the contaminants well below the TOSHA Permissable Exposure Limits. No further action was recommended.