You should always use caution when working with chemicals in
your veterinary practice, but that's especially true when using
formaldehyde for tissue preservation. Studies indicate that
formaldehyde is a human carcinogen and is therefore a serious
hazard for workers. Here's a look at how to protect your team
members. To protect workers, OSHA has implemented a safety
standard that applies to any U.S. workplace that uses
formaldehyde. This standard states that the permissible exposure
limit for formaldehyde in the workplace is 0.5 parts per million
(ppm) measured as an eight-hour time-weighted average. This
standard also includes a 2 ppm short-term exposure limit. This
means that for short periods (up to 15 minutes in an eight-hour
workday), small formaldehyde exposures are unlikely to cause
damage. But if team members are exposed for longer durations,
the potential for complications is much higher. THE RISKS FOR
EMPLOYEES Team members exposed to fumes from formaldehyde in
concentrations above 0.1 ppm can experi