Occupational Health Hazzard: Surgical Smoke
In September 1996, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released a Health Hazard Alert on the dangers of the smoke plume, a byproduct of the thermal destruction of tissue, during surgical procedures using a laser or electrosurgical unit. Research has confirmed that this smoke plume can contain "toxic gases and vapors such as benzene, hydrogen cyanide, and formaldehyde, bioaerosols, dead and live cellular material (including blood fragments), and viruses."1 Exposure to surgical smoke has been known to cause burning watery eyes, nausea, respiratory problems and viral contamination and regrowth.2 According to the Association of Operating Room Nurses, some 24,000,000 surgical procedures were done in the United States in 1995. There are approximately 90,000 registered nurses who work in an operating room and are potentially affected by this occupational hazard. To date, the most effective means developed to safely eliminate this hazard is a smoke evacuator which uses suction and a high efficiency filter to capture the smoke.
Currently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is considering a draft guideline which provides the health care industry with specific guidelines on how to address this significant health hazard. As a member of the Coalition for the Protection of Operating Room Personnel, ANA continues to push OSHA to quickly release this guideline.
ANA urges you contact OSHA and ask for the immediate release of the guideline on the evacuation of surgical smoke.
Greg Watchman
Assistant Secretary
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W. - S2315
Washington, DC 20210
- Control of Smoke from Laser/Electric Surgical Procedures, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 96-128, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, September 1996.
- Ball, K. (1996). "Surgical smoke: Is it safe to breathe?" Today's Surgical Nurse, 18(5), 16-21.