Models vs. measurement. Are we on the right track? The promise and limitations of occupational exposure banding

Details

• Personal Author:
  McKernan L
• Description:
  Chemicals are being introduced into commerce at a rate which significantly outpaces the development of authoritative Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs). The NIOSH Occupational Exposure Banding process uses available toxicological data to create a range of concentrations or an Occupational Exposure Band (OEB), to control chemical exposures. The objective of this paper is to examine 1) the NIOSH Occupational Exposure Banding process 2) review the tier 1 and tier 2 validation results. Methods: To validate Tier 1 process, OELs for approximately 800 chemicals were compared to derived occupational exposure bands (OEBs). To validate the tier 2 process, approximately 115 chemicals from the EPA IRIS database, the TLV "Under Study" List, the MAK list of "Substances for which no MAK value can be established at present", and Health Canada and compared the banding results from multiple users for seven health endpoints. Results: The tier 1 validation results illustrated that the exposure concentrations for powder and dust concentrations needed adjustment. In the tier 2 validation, health endpoints irritation and sensitization commonly caused discrepancies in the final bands selected by users. Other discrepancies were caused by judgment calls with qualitative data, or using unique data sources other than those specified in the NIOSH process manual. Conclusions: The built-in flexibility of the process allowed users to incorporate specialized knowledge about the chemical, when necessary. OEBs can be performed by industrial hygienists and toxicologists to provide useful risk management guidance. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Chemistry Environmental Monitoring Hazardous Substances Hypersensitivity Irritants Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety
• Keywords:
  Analytical-processes Chemical-analysis Chemical-composition Chemical-properties Chemical-structure Control-methods Control-systems Exposure-assessment Exposure-limits Occupational-exposure Qualitative-analysis Regulations Risk-analysis Sensitization Threshold-limit-values Toxic-dose Toxic-effects Toxic-materials

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• ISSN:
  0003-4878
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  EID - Education and Information Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  25-26
• Volume:
  59
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20046067
• Citation:
  Ann Occup Hyg 2015 Mar; 59(Suppl 1):25-26
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Occupational Hygiene
• Supplement:
  1
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7f66b51a0094a7da31b39f662baa6410a0646e601a53ab409b3cff48e0b9dcbdb6914f5bd285c50232fa0da2c3081c3ed505d4fe89270d2aa6f0f6d198b84118
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/201243/cdc_201243_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1003.28 KB ]