An International Challenge
Challenges and Promise for Updating OELs
BY CHRIS LASZCZ-DAVIS, SUSAN RIPPLE, LUC HAMELIN, AND JIMMY PERKINS
For well over 60 years, various do- mestic and international regulatory and authoritative organizations have established occupational ex- posure limits (OELs) for airborne workplace chemicals. But in recent
years the world market has been
adapting to a changing regulatory
arena (particularly in Europe),
shifting centers of manufacturing
growth, a move toward a more
global perspective on solving
health issues, the growth of control
banding methodologies, and the
formulation of control assumptions
without the apparent use of quantitative exposure data. Since only a
small percentage of more than
100,000 chemicals in worldwide
commercial use are either regulated
by a government statute or have a
guideline OEL such as a MAK,
TLV® or WEEL®, the time to examine OEL processes has come.
In 2009, 17 authors representing
decades of experience in all sectors of
occupational health, including academia,
industry, government, labor, and consult-
ing, crafted a green paper titled “Occupa-
tional Exposure Limits—Is There a
Future?” (The green paper is accessible at
www.ioha.net/internationaloelssues.html.)
In an effort to suggest future approaches,
the green paper highlighted the historical
evolution of OELs, current OEL-setting
processes, their role in industrial hygiene
and risk assessment, and current interna-
tional challenges related to OELs. The
paper presented ideas for reviving and
reinventing the process but stopped short
of recommending a unitary solution.
Dialogue and Agreement
An opportunity to continue the dialogue
on a broader basis presented itelf at the
September 2010 International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) Conference in Rome, Italy. A half-day session
on OELs, which included international
speakers, highlighted potential paths to
develop and promote reference values
that have a sound scientific basis and
protect workers from chronic risks; the
precarious nature of OELs today; calls for
a new global paradigm for setting and
defining exposures; and the occupational
health community’s ability to garner the
necessary support from agencies around
the world to use exposure values.
The presentations and discussions led
to a better understanding of global expo-sure-setting processes. The main lessons
include:
Parallel development. The development
of OELs parallels the evolution of a na-
tion’s efforts in environmental health and
safety, with Europe’s OEL efforts initiated
in the 1880s, U.S. efforts in the 1920s,
and China’s and India’s in the 1940s.
