Evaluation of both local exhaust and cycle purges to reduce operator exposure and environmental levels of ethylene oxide.

A local exhaust manifold was attached to two different tabletop ethylene oxide sterilizers. One tabletop sterilizer had a built-in cycle purge feature, while the other had the standard single terminal vacuum cycle. Operator exposure and environmental levels of ethylene oxide were determined with and without local exhaust, and with and without purge cycle. Results from both charcoal tube collection samples and infra-red analysis clearly demonstrated the benefit of a local exhaust coupled with cycle purge in reducing operator exposure to and environmental contamination by ethylene oxide to nearly undetectable levels.