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The Global Landscape of Occupational Exposure Limits—Implementation of Harmonization Principles to Guide Limit Selection
Occupational exposure limits (OELs) serve as health-based benchmarks against which measured or estimated workplace exposures can be compared. In the years since the introduction of OELs to public health practice, both developed and developing countries have established processes for deriving, settin...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Taylor & Francis
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4654639/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26099071 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2015.1060327 |
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author | Deveau, M. Chen, C-P Johanson, G. Krewski, D. Maier, A. Niven, K. J. Ripple, S. Schulte, P. A. Silk, J. Urbanus, J. H. Zalk, D. M. Niemeier, R. W. |
author_facet | Deveau, M. Chen, C-P Johanson, G. Krewski, D. Maier, A. Niven, K. J. Ripple, S. Schulte, P. A. Silk, J. Urbanus, J. H. Zalk, D. M. Niemeier, R. W. |
author_sort | Deveau, M. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Occupational exposure limits (OELs) serve as health-based benchmarks against which measured or estimated workplace exposures can be compared. In the years since the introduction of OELs to public health practice, both developed and developing countries have established processes for deriving, setting, and using OELs to protect workers exposed to hazardous chemicals. These processes vary widely, however, and have thus resulted in a confusing international landscape for identifying and applying such limits in workplaces. The occupational hygienist will encounter significant overlap in coverage among organizations for many chemicals, while other important chemicals have OELs developed by few, if any, organizations. Where multiple organizations have published an OEL, the derived value often varies considerably—reflecting differences in both risk policy and risk assessment methodology as well as access to available pertinent data. This article explores the underlying reasons for variability in OELs, and recommends the harmonization of risk-based methods used by OEL-deriving organizations. A framework is also proposed for the identification and systematic evaluation of OEL resources, which occupational hygienists can use to support risk characterization and risk management decisions in situations where multiple potentially relevant OELs exist. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4654639 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | Taylor & Francis |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-46546392016-01-04 The Global Landscape of Occupational Exposure Limits—Implementation of Harmonization Principles to Guide Limit Selection Deveau, M. Chen, C-P Johanson, G. Krewski, D. Maier, A. Niven, K. J. Ripple, S. Schulte, P. A. Silk, J. Urbanus, J. H. Zalk, D. M. Niemeier, R. W. J Occup Environ Hyg Original Articles Occupational exposure limits (OELs) serve as health-based benchmarks against which measured or estimated workplace exposures can be compared. In the years since the introduction of OELs to public health practice, both developed and developing countries have established processes for deriving, setting, and using OELs to protect workers exposed to hazardous chemicals. These processes vary widely, however, and have thus resulted in a confusing international landscape for identifying and applying such limits in workplaces. The occupational hygienist will encounter significant overlap in coverage among organizations for many chemicals, while other important chemicals have OELs developed by few, if any, organizations. Where multiple organizations have published an OEL, the derived value often varies considerably—reflecting differences in both risk policy and risk assessment methodology as well as access to available pertinent data. This article explores the underlying reasons for variability in OELs, and recommends the harmonization of risk-based methods used by OEL-deriving organizations. A framework is also proposed for the identification and systematic evaluation of OEL resources, which occupational hygienists can use to support risk characterization and risk management decisions in situations where multiple potentially relevant OELs exist. Taylor & Francis 2015-11-25 2015-11-19 /pmc/articles/PMC4654639/ /pubmed/26099071 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2015.1060327 Text en This article not subject to U.S. copyright law. Published with license by Taylor & Francis This is an Open Access article. Non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way, is permitted. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted. |
spellingShingle | Original Articles Deveau, M. Chen, C-P Johanson, G. Krewski, D. Maier, A. Niven, K. J. Ripple, S. Schulte, P. A. Silk, J. Urbanus, J. H. Zalk, D. M. Niemeier, R. W. The Global Landscape of Occupational Exposure Limits—Implementation of Harmonization Principles to Guide Limit Selection |
title | The Global Landscape of Occupational Exposure Limits—Implementation of Harmonization Principles to Guide Limit Selection |
title_full | The Global Landscape of Occupational Exposure Limits—Implementation of Harmonization Principles to Guide Limit Selection |
title_fullStr | The Global Landscape of Occupational Exposure Limits—Implementation of Harmonization Principles to Guide Limit Selection |
title_full_unstemmed | The Global Landscape of Occupational Exposure Limits—Implementation of Harmonization Principles to Guide Limit Selection |
title_short | The Global Landscape of Occupational Exposure Limits—Implementation of Harmonization Principles to Guide Limit Selection |
title_sort | global landscape of occupational exposure limits—implementation of harmonization principles to guide limit selection |
topic | Original Articles |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4654639/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26099071 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2015.1060327 |
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