What drives the cost of an air monitoring survey

This page explains what the rules and common practice call for. Every site is different, and what a survey or a filing needs at your facility is something we work out with you after we see it.

The honest answer is that it depends, but what it depends on is knowable. It comes down to four things: field time, laboratory analysis, the number of samples and the report.

Below is what determines each one, what pushes the total up and what brings it down. We also cover how to read a quote you already have in hand, including how to tell whether a low number reflects an efficient sampling plan or one that leaves out something you will need later.

For a figure that fits your own operation, describe the job to us and we will put together a written scope of work and a price.

What you are paying for

An air monitoring survey has four cost components. A firm that quotes you one lump sum is rolling them together, and if that number seems high or low, one of these four almost always explains it.

1. Field time

Someone has to be in your plant to calibrate the sampling pumps before the shift, fit them to your workers, check them mid-shift and calibrate them again at the end.

Full-shift sampling means a full shift on site. You cannot squeeze a valid 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) sample into a 2-hour visit.

Most surveys for a single substance take 1 day. Larger operations, or those with more than one shift, run 2 to 3.

2. Laboratory analysis

The laboratory charges for each sample, and the charge varies widely depending on what is being analyzed. The substance drives that cost, not the sampling itself.

The laboratory should be nationally accredited, because accreditation is the difference between a number and a defensible number. If OSHA issues a citation and you contest it, a result from a laboratory that is not accredited is the first thing challenged.

3. Number of samples

This is the largest single cost driver, and most people underestimate it. You are not sampling a substance. You are sampling workers, placed in similar exposure groups (SEGs) by how alike their exposure is.

The welder, the grinder and the saw operator are three groups, not one, even if they work 10 feet apart.

If someone quotes you a survey based on one sample for each substance, that quote is cheap because the result will not hold up. → How many air samples do you really need?

4. The written report

The report covers:

• What the results mean
• The TWA calculation for each shift
• How each result compares with the permissible exposure limit (PEL) and with the action level
• The periodic monitoring schedule your results trigger
• Recommendations

This is where a good survey and a poor one really differ. A laboratory result is a number on a page, while a report tells you what that number requires you to do next. It is also the document you will hand to an inspector.

→ See sample reports

What makes it cost more

• More exposure groups. That means more distinct jobs, not more people. A 100-person plant where everyone does the same thing costs less to survey than a 20-person shop with 8 different operations.
• More than one shift. Exposures on second and third shift are often different, and a survey that covers only day shift does not tell you what those shifts are breathing.
• Expensive analyses. Analysis for isocyanates (chemicals in some paints and foams) costs several times what a set of metals costs, and the sampling media differ as well.
• Rush laboratory turnaround. A rush is worth paying for against a deadline. Without one, it buys you nothing.
• Travel. Out-of-state work adds lodging, per diem and the cost of getting people and equipment to your site. It is usually a smaller share of the total than people expect, because a survey is a 1- to 3-day job and travel rarely dominates.
• Periodic monitoring requirements. If results come back above the action level, you now have a repeat obligation every 6 months or every quarter. That is a program cost, not a one-time cost, and it belongs in the budget discussion up front.

What makes it cost less

• Sampling for several substances in one visit. The field day is the same whether the survey covers one substance or four, and additional samples are inexpensive next to additional visits.
• Combining services. A noise survey and air sampling can share the same trip.
• Good preparation. Sending us a process description, worker counts by job, safety data sheets and previous sampling data ahead of time reduces field time noticeably.
• Standard laboratory turnaround. If there is no deadline, do not pay for a rush.
• Being told you do not need it. See below.

When you may not need this

Saying this costs us work, but we would rather say it than sell you sampling you were never required to do.

You may be able to rely on objective data in place of sampling for silica, hexavalent chromium, beryllium and formaldehyde. The standards for those substances include options that let objective data stand in for exposure monitoring, so you may not have to collect a single sample if the data truly matches your operation.

That does not hold for everything. The lead and cadmium standards allow past and existing data only in place of initial monitoring. Neither standard allows it for periodic monitoring, so existing data will not carry an ongoing lead or cadmium program.

You may also have sampled recently, with nothing changed since. If so, you may already be on a valid schedule and not yet due. → How often OSHA requires air monitoring, by substance

A 20-minute conversation usually settles which of these applies to you, and that conversation is free.

How we quote

1. We have a short call about your operation, substances, headcount and job titles.
2. We send a written scope of work with a fixed number of samples and a fixed price, not an hourly estimate that drifts.

We are based in Arizona and have worked on site across the United States since 1993, in aerospace, electronics, steel fabrication, foundries and semiconductors.