Industrial Hygiene Exam 1 Practice

What units are commonly used for airborne contaminant concentrations in industrial hygiene?

ppm for all mg/m3 for particulates and gases; mg/m3 for solids g/L for all percent by volume for all

Correct Answer:

mg/m3 for particulates and gases; mg/m3 for solids

Explanation:

The key idea is that industrial hygiene typically uses mass per air volume (mg/m3) to express airborne contaminant concentrations, because this directly reflects the dose a person could inhale. This unit works across forms: dusts (solids/particulates) are reported as mg/m3, and gases/vapors can also be reported in mg/m3 (or converted from ppm using molar mass and conditions). Parts per million is a common way to express gases, especially when limits are given in ppm, but mg/m3 is more universally applicable for reporting exposure and dose relationships. Percent by volume and g/L aren’t standard for occupational exposure reporting. So the commonly used unit across contaminants is mg/m3.

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