The use of phosphine gas requires that respiratory protection be used if exposures exceed the OSHA permissible exposure limit. As with other chemical exposures limits many of the references used to establish occupational health guidelines date back to the 1930’s and 1940’s. This is quite common and is the case with phosphine gas. Initial planning for fumigations involving magnesium phosphide requires that a hazard assessment be performed. Expected worker exposures based on previous monitoring or test data was not readily available. Many current practices and procedures for fumigations are based on recommendations from applicators who used the product in the 1950’s and 60’s. Unfortunately, many of the recommendations were based on personal opinion and experience rather than actual exposure monitoring data. Not until the 1980\u27s were comprehensive applicator exposure assessments being conducted for different tasks involving magnesium phosphide. As a result, it is necessary to generate current applicator exposure data and compare the data to current occupational exposure limits for phosphine gas
