Event Details

This webinar will present the results of an AIOH Foundation-funded joint research project undertaken by Dr Kelly Johnstone from UQ and Peter Knott from GCG. The project aimed to explore facility maintenance workers’ and cleaners’ exposures to a group of chemicals called Quaternary ammonium chloride compounds (Quats). Quats are a class of commonly used disinfectant chemicals encountered in domestic and hospital-grade cleaning solutions, linked to asthma and airway irritation.  They are typically present as a mixture of different compounds such as Benzyl dimethyldodecylammonium chloride (BAC12), Benzyl dimethyltetradecylammonium chloride (BAC14), Benzyl dimethylhexadecylammonium chloride (BAC16), and Didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC).

The use of Quats as antimicrobials has increased substantially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is very little available quantitative data on exposures to this group of chemicals. Therefore, very little is known about the risks posed by current work methods.

The webinar will present the AIOH Foundation-Funded study’s results, including quantitative data on exposures. Azrin Akram from Envirolab Group will also discuss the establishment of a NATA-accredited laboratory method in Australia to analyse these samples. The webinar will be useful for anyone who’s involved with facility maintenance workers or cleaners using disinfecting chemicals.

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Presenters:

Kelly Johnstone, Associate Professor

Kelly is a Certified Occupational Hygienist (COH)® and a Fellow and Certified Chartered Generalist Occupational Health and Safety Professional. She has over 25 years of professional and academic experience having worked as a consultant in a range of sectors including energy, resources, construction, manufacturing, and ports. Kelly is the Program Director for the Master of Occupational Hygiene at The University of Queensland. Her research interest is in occupational health and previous work includes projects on pesticide exposure, indoor air quality, waste anaesthetic gas, thermal risk assessment, dust exposure characterisation, and a range of other occupational health and hygiene projects. 

Peter Knott, MClinEpid, COH, FAIOH

Peter is a Certified Occupational Hygienist (COH)® and Fellow of the AIOH.  A lifelong hygienist, his career in occupational hygiene started in aluminium smelting, from there gaining experience in aluminium processing and fabrication, power generation, PPE manufacturing and mining in Australia and internationally.  He is currently a principal hygienist with GCG Health Safety Hygiene.  Peter has represented industry bodies on Australian Standards committees for workplace atmospheres, respiratory protection and hearing protection.  In 2021 Peter co-authored a paper awarded the Thomas Bedford Memorial Prize by the BOHS.  He has tertiary qualifications in Chemistry, Environmental Health and Epidemiology, and is currently a doctoral student in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Newcastle where he is researching the effect of lifetime occupational exposures to chemical mixtures on selected chronic diseases.  

Azrin Akram, Senior Chemist, Envirolab Services

Azrin is a Senior Chemist with over 10 years of experience specializing in high-end analytical techniques, particularly GC/GC-MS and LC-MS/MS instrumentation. Currently, Azrin works in the Organic Section at Envirolab Services’ Melbourne Laboratory, where he manages the LC (liquid Chromatography) section. Some of Azrin’s recent contributions include the development of a multiplex method for LC-MS/MS to increase throughput productivity for PFAS analysis in Environmental samples, the development of analysis of tributyl tin and acid herbicides in soil samples, as well as the development of an LC-MS/MS method for the rapid analysis of oxyhalides and bromide in potable water. Additionally, Azrin developed and LCMSMS method for analysing quaternary ammonium analytes in air samples. Throughout his career, Azrin has developed and validated numerous analytical methods for multi-residue pesticide screening and metabolite analysis, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Prior to joining Envirolab Services, Azrin worked at Australian Laboratory Services in Scoresby as Instrumentation team leader, where he played a key role in developing methods and obtaining accreditation using various high-end analytical instrumentation. Azrin passionate about finding solutions for identifying and monitoring/quantitating emerging environmental contaminants using modern analytical chemistry techniques.