August 25, 2003—The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is adapting Global Positioning System or GPS technology—similar to that used by the military to maneuver troops through hostile terrain, and by motorists to plan travel routes—as a faster, more certain way to pinpoint locations at outdoor work sites where employees may be exposed to hazardous levels of dusts, gases, fumes, noise, and heat. The NIOSH-developed technology creates a Local Positioning System that links GPS with other instrumentation.
A prototype unit, about the size of a videocassette, was developed and successfully pilot-tested this year. NIOSH is beginning procedures to commercialize the technology while exploring further ways to apply it and to reduce the size of the device.
NIOSH also plans to test the system with a monitor designed to measure sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and other gases that may pose an occupational hazard. For more information about the NIOSH prototype, contact Jennifer Hornsby-Myers, NIOSH Health Effects Laboratory Division.
