Closing the Exposure Gap
Occupational Exposure Bands, ERAM, and Prevention
through Design
BY DONNA S. HEIDEL AND SUSAN D. RIPPLE
In January 2011, over 107,000 chemicals
were manufactured within or imported
into the European Union in quantities
exceeding 1,000 tons. Chemical manufacturers and importers were required
by EU’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals
(REACH) legislation to register these
chemicals with the EU. By 2018, REACH
registration requirements will be extended
to all chemicals manufactured or imported in quantities greater than 1 ton.
A similar number of chemicals are likely
handled in the United States and can
cause adverse health effects if exposures
are not controlled below the associated
occupational exposure limit (OEL).
Over the past 70 years, industrial hygienists have developed authoritative OELs
for about 2,000 chemicals—two percent
of current REACH registrations. A variety
of factors limit OEL development, including insufficient data, human and financial
resources, and the need for an intensive
process to ensure accurate interpretation
of data. Traditional industrial hygiene
practice requires an OEL and an analytical method to determine exposure risk to
a chemical agent. However, chemicals are
introduced into commerce at a rate that
exceeds our ability to develop authoritative OELs. Therefore, it’s necessary to
expand the scope of industrial hygiene
practice to all chemical agents with the
potential for adverse effects from occupational exposures. Ways that we can close
this “exposure gap” include eliminating
hazards, identifying appropriate substitutes
and designing-in appropriate controls.
ERAM and OEBs
AIHA’s vision for 2020 is to eliminate
workplace illnesses. With the annual cost
of occupational illness now estimated
at $58 billion,1 achieving that goal will
demonstrate the value of our profession
to the workers we protect and the busi-nesses we serve. To achieve this vision,
AIHA® participates in the development
of standards, policies, legislation and
regulations that improve human health
exposure risk assessment and management (ERAM). ERAM combines industrial
hygiene exposure risk assessment with
the management of exposure risk using
the hierarchy of controls.
ERAM is foundational to the safe development of emerging technologies and
to hazardous chemicals already in our
workplaces. ERAM is also an important
component of the NIOSH-led initiative
Prevention through Design—eliminating
hazards and controlling exposure risks to
an acceptable level at the source or early
in the life cycle of equipment, products,
processes or facilities (see www.cdc.gov/
niosh/topics/PtD).
One way to address the limitations
of OEL development is through occupational exposure banding—the process in
which hazards are evaluated in terms of
potential adverse effects, including dose,
from occupational exposure routes, and
communicated in terms of target occupational exposure ranges. Occupational
exposure banding can be the first step
in a comprehensive ERAM approach to
chemical hazards. OEBs may be the most
appropriate way to group families of
materials where data or resources are too
limited to allow for a comprehensive and
conclusive assessment of risk.
How can industrial hygienists include
OEBs into ERAM for the majority of
chemicals in commerce without authori-
tative OELs? Can OEBs (also known as
health hazard bands) be used to conduct
qualitative or semi-quantitative exposure
risk assessments and serve as the basis for
selecting appropriate exposure controls?
Also, can these OEBs be used to charac-
terize hazards and assess potential worker
exposure risks during the design of
processes, products and facilities so that
design engineers can specify appropriate
controls?
