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July 24, 2019

NIOSH Report on Occupational Exposure Banding Process for Chemical Management Addresses Nanofibers and Nanoparticles

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) announced on July 10, 2019, the availability of a new Technical Report, The NIOSH Occupational Exposure Banding Process for Chemical Risk Management.  NIOSH describes occupational exposure banding as “a voluntary process that assigns each chemical to a category based on its toxicity and any negative health outcomes associated with exposure to that chemical.”  The Technical Report “provides a process...
March 17, 2017

NIOSH Will Hold Public Meeting and Seeks Comments on Draft CIB on the Occupational Exposure Banding Process: Guidance for the Evaluation of Chemical Hazards

On March 15, 2017, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Federal Register notice announcing the availability of a draft Current Intelligence Bulletin (CIB) entitled The NIOSH Occupational Exposure Banding Process: Guidance for the Evaluation of Chemical Hazards for public comment.  Under occupational exposure banding, chemicals are assigned to specific categories or bands based on the chemical’s potency and the negative health...
October 23, 2016

ISO Standard Provides Overview of Frameworks for Developing OELs and OEBs for NOAAs

On November 21, 2016, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released ISO/TR 18637:2016, “Nanotechnologies — Overview of available frameworks for the development of occupational exposure limits and bands for nano-objects and their aggregates and agglomerates (NOAAs).”  ISO notes that occupational exposure limits (OEL) are generally substance-specific.  In some case, there is insufficient data to develop an OEL, especially for substances such as nano-objects and...