Sure Spot® Dosimeter Badge

GMD Products, Bacharach, Inc.

Pittsburgh, PA

Monitoring personnel exposed to toxic vapors became more effective when GMD Products, Bacharach Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, designed a reliable colorimetric vapor monitoring dosimeter for NASA, thus creating the Sure-Spot® Dosimeter Badges for Hydrazine. Through Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contracts with GMD, a two-chemistry badge was developed to monitor personnel exposure to hydrazine (Hz) and monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

• GMD modified the NASA technology to create a new commercial product.
• The disposable badge is an inexpensive and effective tool for monitoring exposure and risk.
• The badge provides immediate visual warning, measures actual exposure doses.
• Badges are individually sealed, numbered and dated for shelf life for maximum reliability. It also has sensitivity for low doses and an extended upper range for maximum detection.
• Badges have been used by major chemical companies world-wide.
• NASA relies on the badges for monitoring needs in various locations throughout KSC.

• The lightweight, easy-to-use, sensitive, and reliable disposable badges can help minimize the risks associated with the exposure of personnel to toxic gases.
• The badge has two separate paper tape chemistries in one badge; a pair of circular windows in the badge allow each tape to be exposed and observed.
• When exposed to hydrazine or MMH, both tapes change colors, providing an immediate visual alarm. By using a Dose Estimator the user can match the stain density to available dose information and determine the approximate exposure level.

• KSC has a need for a dosimeter badge for the detection of hydrazine and monomethyl hydrazine.
• Through Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I and II contracts with GMD Systems (now Bacharach), a prototype two-chemistry badge was developed.
• KSC assigned a Federal Stock Item Number to the badges enabling KSC safety and operational personnel to begin using them. Risk areas where exposure monitoring is required include facilities where workers are engaged in assembly and operational handling of spacecraft, missiles, and aircraft auxiliary power units in which fuels are used.

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