On occasion, we’ve heard from customers that the directions included in the box of Vapor-Trak monitoring badges are difficult to understand.
Below are step-by-step directions. We encourage you, however, to contact your account manager before you run these badges. They have some helpful tips for you.
Inside the AN94 box, there are two identical badge kits. Each kit is contained in its own self-addressed and postage-paid box. The badges are the same, but you will use them differently. You will use both badges in the AN94 box every time you test.
OSHA requires the monitoring badges run at the installation of a sterilizer or if a sterilizer is moved and reinstalled. Andersen recommends they also be run annually.
Each AN94 Vapor-Trak Monitor is manufactured to meet and exceed applicable OSHA and NIOSH accuracy requirements at both 8-hour TWA (Time Weighted Average) and 15-minute STEL (Short Term Excursion Limits) levels.
Before using the badges, please look around the room where the sterilizer is placed for any volatile organic compounds (which will confuse the badges) and refrain from other chemical use or processes while the badges are monitoring the area. This ensures an accurate reading of EO without cross-contamination.
Examples of chemicals that confuse (or cross-contaminate) the badges include Hand sanitizer, strong perfume, other sterilization chemicals and cleaning chemicals.
Badge 1:
Hang the badge at head-level in the room for eight hours – immediately afterward, you must run a cycle in your sterilizer. This mimics the exposure of someone working a full shift in the room.
At the end of the eight hours, put the badge back in the zipper storage bag it came out of (either or both), fill out the postcard with your practice information, put both in the opened self-addressed and postage-paid box and put it in the mail.
Badge 2:
Whoever is going to unload the sterilizer after the cycle mentioned above will clip the badge to the collar of their shirt for 15 minutes while unloading. Even if it takes less time to unload the sterilizer, please continue to work around the unloaded items for the full 15 minutes.
At the end of the 15 minutes, put the badge back in the zipper storage bag it came out of (either or both), fill out the postcard with your practice information, put both back in the second self-addressed and postage-paid box and put it in the mail.
Results
The two badges will be sent back to the third-party lab separately. Analysis of each monitor will result in a mailed independent laboratory report for your record-keeping; expect about a week’s wait. A timelier emailed notification will accompany any elevated results. Andersen Sterilizers also receives a copy of your results.