Occupational exposure limit

Upper limit on the acceptable concentration of a hazardous substance
Occupational hazards
  • Physical
  • Chemical
  • Biological
  • Psychosocial
Hierarchy of hazard controls
  • Elimination
  • Substitution
  • Engineering controls
  • Administrative controls
  • Personal protective equipment
  • Prevention through design
Occupational hygiene
  • Occupational exposure limit
  • Exposure assessment
  • Workplace exposure monitoring
Study
  • Occupational toxicology
  • Occupational epidemiology
  • Workplace health surveillance
  • v
  • t
  • e

An occupational exposure limit is an upper limit on the acceptable concentration of a hazardous substance in workplace air for a particular material or class of materials. It is typically set by competent national authorities and enforced by legislation to protect occupational safety and health. It is an important tool in risk assessment and in the management of activities involving handling of dangerous substances.[1] There are many dangerous substances for which there are no formal occupational exposure limits. In these cases, hazard banding or control banding strategies can be used to ensure safe handling.

Background

Simple representation of exposure risk assessment and management hierarchy based on available information

Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) have been established for airborne workplace chemicals by multiple regulatory and authoritative organizations around the world for well over 60 years now. With the changing regulatory arena, shifting centers of manufacturing growth, and the move towards a more global view on occupational hygiene issues, it is important for the Occupational Hygiene profession to understand the current and growing issues impacting the continued viability of OEL's in our professional practice.[2]

Although peer-reviewed health-based OELs are preferred for establishing safe levels of exposure or for implementing adequate controls to provide worker protection, the lack of publicly available OELs have led to other sources of safe levels to protect workers. Industrial or Occupational Hygienists are often on the front line of anticipating and recognizing the hazards of chemical exposure for workers, and must assess the risk of exposure through the use of OELs so that proper control strategies can be implemented to keep workers below the OEL values. In the absence of OELs however, there are a variety of tools that can and should be used to assess exposure potential of workers. The "Hierarchy of OELs" provides a continuum of occupational exposure limit values that allow assessment of the risk of exposure in order to apply adequate controls.[3]

Hierarchy of occupational exposure limits (OELs)
Illustration of statistical output from IHSTAT using air sampling data

Personal air sampling is routinely conducted on workers to determine whether exposures are acceptable or unacceptable. These samples are collected and analyzed using validated sampling and analytical methods. These methods are available from OSHA Technical Manual and NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods [4] Statistical tools are available to assess exposure monitoring data against OELs. The statistical tools are typically free but do require some previous knowledge with statistical concepts. A popular exposure data statistical tool called "IH STAT" is available from AIHA (American Industrial Hygiene Association). IHSTAT has 14 languages including English and is available for free.[5]

Methods for performing occupational exposure assessments can be found in "A Strategy for Assessing and Managing Occupational Exposures, Third Edition Edited by Joselito S. Ignacio and William H. Bullock".[6]

With the World Health Organization and the International Labour Office having now quantified the global burden of disease from psychosocial occupational hazards,[7] identification of OELs for such hazards is increasingly becoming a focus of attention for occupational safety and health policy and practice.

Types

International limit values

The database "GESTIS - International limit values for chemical agents"[8] contains a collection of occupational limit values for hazardous substances collected from 35 lists from 29 countries: various EU member states, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, China, Turkey, and the United States. The database comprises values of more than 2,000 substances.

The present database was elaborated in co-operation with experts from various international occupational safety and health institutions. It aims to give an overview of limit values in different countries. Since the limit values vary in their handling, the level of protection, and their legal relevance, the original lists of limit values and the explanations there should be considered as primary sources. Also the chemical nomenclature is diverging, synonyms can for example be found in the GESTIS Substance Database.

The database is also available as an app for mobile terminals with Android or iOS operating systems.

See also

References

  1. ^ European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. "Occupational Exposure Limits". Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  2. ^ IOHA. "International OEL Issues and Activities \". Archived from the original on 2015-08-11.
  3. ^ AIHA. "Webinar: The New Era of Global Exposure Limit Setting Processes - Harmonization on an OEL Hierarchy Approach".
  4. ^ NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods
  5. ^ "Link to freeware version IHSTAT via AIHA Exposure Assessment Strategies website" https://www.aiha.org/get-involved/VolunteerGroups/Pages/Exposure-Assessment-Strategies-Committee.aspx/ Archived 2019-03-23 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "A Strategy for Assessing and Managing Occupational Exposures, Third Edition Edited by Joselito S. Ignacio and William H. Bullock AIHA Press" http://iweb.aiha.org/iweb/Purchase/ProductDetail.aspx?Product_code=AEAK06-327/[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ Pega, Frank; Nafradi, Balint; Momen, Natalie; Ujita, Yuka; Streicher, Kai; Prüss-Üstün, Annette; Technical Advisory Group (2021). "Global, regional, and national burdens of ischemic heart disease and stroke attributable to exposure to long working hours for 194 countries, 2000–2016: A systematic analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury". Environment International. 154: 106595. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2021.106595. PMC 8204267. PMID 34011457.
  8. ^ Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance: GESTIS – International limit values for chemical agents (Occupational exposure limits, OELs), http://www.dguv.de/ifa/gestis/gestis-internationale-grenzwerte-fuer-chemische-substanzen-limit-values-for-chemical-agents/index-2.jsp

Bibliography

  • Dikshith, T. S. S. & Diwan, P. V. (2003). Industrial Guide to Chemical and Drug Safety. Wiley-IEEE. pp. pp189–191. ISBN 0-471-23698-5. (Google Books)
  • Topping, M. (2001). "Occupational Exposure Limits for Chemicals". Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 58 (2): 138–144. doi:10.1136/oem.58.2.138. PMC 1740099. PMID 11160994.

External links

  • v
  • t
  • e
Occupational
diseases
and injuries
Occupational
hygiene
Professions
Agencies and
organizations
International
National
Standards
Safety
Legislation
See also
  • Category
    • Occupational diseases
    • Journals
    • Organizations
  • Commons
  • Glossary
  • v
  • t
  • e
Basic equipment
Breathing gas
Buoyancy and
trim equipment
Decompression
equipment
Diving suit
Helmets
and masks
Instrumentation
Mobility
equipment
Safety
equipment
Underwater
breathing
apparatus
Open-circuit
scuba
Diving rebreathers
Surface-supplied
diving equipment
Diving
equipment
manufacturers
Access equipment
Breathing gas
handling
Decompression
equipment
Platforms
Underwater
habitat
Remotely operated
underwater vehicles
Safety equipment
General
Activities
Competitions
Equipment
Freedivers
Hazards
Historical
Organisations
Occupations
Military
diving
Military
diving
units
Underwater
work
Salvage diving
  • SS Egypt
  • Kronan
  • La Belle
  • SS Laurentic
  • RMS Lusitania
  • Mars
  • Mary Rose
  • USS Monitor
  • HMS Royal George
  • Vasa
Diving
contractors
Tools and
equipment
Underwater
weapons
Underwater
firearm
Specialties
Diver
organisations
Diving tourism
industry
Diving events
and festivals
Diving
hazards
Consequences
Diving
procedures
Risk
management
Diving team
Equipment
safety
Occupational
safety and
health
Diving
disorders
Pressure
related
Oxygen
Inert gases
Carbon dioxide
Breathing gas
contaminants
Immersion
related
Treatment
Personnel
Screening
Research
Researchers in
diving physiology
and medicine
Diving medical
research
organisations
Law
Archeological
sites
Underwater art
and artists
Engineers
and inventors
Historical
equipment
Diver
propulsion
vehicles
Military and
covert operations
  • Raid on Alexandria (1941)
  • Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
Scientific projects
Awards and events
Incidents
Dive boat incidents
  • Sinking of MV Conception
Diver rescues
Early diving
Freediving fatalities
Offshore
diving incidents
  • Byford Dolphin diving bell accident
  • Drill Master diving accident
  • Star Canopus diving accident
  • Stena Seaspread diving accident
  • Venture One diving accident
  • Waage Drill II diving accident
  • Wildrake diving accident
Professional
diving fatalities
Scuba diving
fatalities
Publications
Manuals
  • NOAA Diving Manual
  • U.S. Navy Diving Manual
  • Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival
  • Underwater Handbook
  • Bennett and Elliott's physiology and medicine of diving
  • Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving
  • The new science of skin and scuba diving
  • Professional Diver's Handbook
  • Basic Scuba
Standards and
Codes of Practice
General non-fiction
Research
Dive guides
Training and registration
Diver
training
Skills
Recreational
scuba
certification
levels
Core diving skills
Leadership skills
Specialist skills
Diver training
certification
and registration
organisations
Commercial diver
certification
authorities
Commercial diving
schools
Free-diving
certification
agencies
Recreational
scuba
certification
agencies
Scientific diver
certification
authorities
Technical diver
certification
agencies
Cave
diving
Military diver
training centres
Military diver
training courses
Surface snorkeling
Snorkeling/breath-hold
Breath-hold
Open Circuit Scuba
Rebreather
  • Underwater photography
Sports governing
organisations
and federations
Competitions
Pioneers
of diving
Underwater
scientists
archaeologists and
environmentalists
Scuba record
holders
Underwater
filmmakers
and presenters
Underwater
photographers
Underwater
explorers
Aquanauts
Writers and journalists
Rescuers
Frogmen
Commercial salvors
Diving
physics
Diving
physiology
Decompression
theory
Diving
environment
Classification
Impact
Other
Deep-submergence
vehicle
  • Aluminaut
  • DSV Alvin
  • American submarine NR-1
  • Bathyscaphe
    • Archimède
    • FNRS-2
    • FNRS-3
    • Harmony class bathyscaphe
    • Sea Pole-class bathyscaphe
    • Trieste II
  • Deepsea Challenger
  • Ictineu 3
  • JAGO
  • Jiaolong
  • Konsul-class submersible
  • Limiting Factor
  • Russian submarine Losharik
  • Mir
  • Nautile
  • Pisces-class deep submergence vehicle
  • DSV Sea Cliff
  • DSV Shinkai
  • DSV Shinkai 2000
  • DSV Shinkai 6500
  • DSV Turtle
  • DSV-5 Nemo
Submarine rescue
Deep-submergence
rescue vehicle
Submarine escape
Escape set
Special
interest
groups
Neutral buoyancy
facilities for
Astronaut training
Other