TOPIC 5

DKS 40703

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE

DIP. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

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 TOPIC 5 :
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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH STANDARDS
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completing this topic, students should be able

to:

▪ Explain what is occupational health

standard and its importances
▪ Desribe different occupational health
standard
▪ Apply different occupational health
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standard according to the right

 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH STANDARDS

A complete standard should include:

The exposure limit of the substance that has been

determined to provide a safe, healthful work
environment

The methods for collecting, sampling and

analyzing the substance

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The engineering controls necessary for
maintaining a safe environment
 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH STANDARDS

Appropriate equipment and clothing for safe

handling of the substance

Emergency procedures in the event of an

accident

Medical surveillance procedures necessary for

the prevention of illness or injury from
inadvertent overexposure

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The use of signs and labels to identify hazardous
substances
 OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE STANDARDS IN
THE WORKPLACE

Purpose

Protection of workers

Guidance for employers and employees,

safety and health professionals, medicals
professionals and engineers

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 TYPES OF OH STANDARDS

Biological Standards

Analysis of chemical absorbed into the body

(solvent, metal)

Exposure Standards

Airborne contaminant (vapors, gases, dust, etc)

Physical agents (radiation, heat, vibration, etc)
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 EXPOSURE STANDARDS -
BASIS
❑Industrial Experience

❑Animal Experiments

❑Human Studies

❑Combination

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 American Conference of
Governmental Industrial
Hygienist (ACGIH)
Standards

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 American Conference of Governmental
Industrial Hygienist (ACGIH)

US government agency that establishes and

recommends occupational exposure limits for
chemical substances and physical agents.

ACGIH - professional association of industrial

hygienists and practitioners of related professions.

One of its goals - to advance worker protection by

providing timely, objective, scientific information to
occupational and environmental health professionals.

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 American Conference of Governmental Industrial
Hygienist (ACGIH)

These limits are followed also in several

others countries

Many guides for exposure to airborne

contaminants have been proposed and some
of them have been used throughout the
years

The most widely accepted - those issued

annually by the ACGIH and are termed
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Threshold Limit Values (TLVs)
 ACGIH Threshold Limit Values
ACGIH establishes the 

Threshold Limit Values (TLVs)

Chemical substances & physical
agents

Biological Exposure Indices

(BEIs)

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The TLVs and BEI are developed
as guidelines to assist in the
control of health hazards.
 ACGIH Threshold Limit Values
These recommendations/ guidelines
are intended

For use in the practice of industrial hygiene, to

be interpreted and applied only by a person
trained in this discipline.

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 Threshold Limit Values
Threshold limit value –
Airborne concentrations of substances and represent under
which it is believed that nearly all workers may be repeatedly
exposed day after day without adverse effect.

These limit are not fine line between safe

and dangerous concentration

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 Threshold Limit Values

Published by ACGIH
Established in 1946 (updated annually)
Approximately 750 chemicals covered
Guidelines not law

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 THRESHOLD LIMIT VALUE (TLV)
TLV expressed either in:

▪Parts per million (ppm) by volume – present in

the air as particulate suspension
▪Milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3) – present
as gases or vapors
▪Fibers per milliliter of air (f/ml) – unique for
asbestos
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 TLV-TWA
Contaminant concentration averaged over a
period of time; usually over a full work shift –i.e.,
eight-hour TWA

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 TLV - STEL
Short Term Exposure Limit (STEL): Contaminant
concentration averaged over a 15-minute period

TLV - CEILING
Instantaneous concentration; or absolute
exposure limit that should not be exceeded
at any time
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 UNLISTED SUBSTANCES
Many substances present or produced as
by-products in industrial process did not
have TLV:

▪Rarely present as a particulate, vapor or other

airborne contaminant

▪Do not have sufficient data to develop a TLV

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 BIOLOGICAL STANDARDS
Analysis of biological samples obtained from
exposed workers
Should NOT be considered as substitute for
air sampling
Provide an indication of the body burden of
the substance, the amount circulating in the
blood, or the amount being excreted
Analyses that can be performed:
▪Analysis on substance
20 ▪Analysis on metabolite
 CARCINOGENS

ACGIH categories as follows:

▪ A1 - Confirmed human carcinogen – asbestos
▪ A2 - Suspected human carcinogen – silica
▪ A3 - Confirmed animal carcinogen with unknown relevance to
humans
▪ A4 - Not classifiable as a human carcinogen
▪ A5 - Not suspected as a human carcinogen – nickel

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 PERMISSIBLE EXPOSURE
LIMITS
(PEL)

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 PEL
Under USECHH Regulations 2000.

Permissible exposure limit: means a

ceiling limit or an eight-hour time
weighted average airborne
concentration or the maximum
exposure limit.

List of PEL in Schedule 1, USECHH

Regulation.
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 PEL, TWA, TLV and MEL
Three types of PEL:

1. TWA (Time Weighted Average) limit: an

average airborne concentration over a
specified period of time.

- Eight-hour time-weighted average:

Concentration given for a normal 8 hour
workday or 40 hour work week

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SOURCES :
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (USE AND STANDARDS OF EXPOSURE OF CHEMICALS HAZARDOUS
TO HEALTH) REGULATIONS 2000

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 PEL, TWA, TLV and MEL
2. Ceiling Limit:
The airborne concentration that should not be
exceeded during any part of the working day

3. Maximum Exposure Limit - a fifteen minutes

TWA
airborne concentration which is three times the
8h TWA
airborne concentration of chemicals in schedule
1.

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 Time Weighted Average
(TWA)
It is implicit in all TLVs that measurements
are made in the breathing zone of a workers
and are obtained in such a way that a TWA
can be calculated.

In general for an 8 hour workday

TWA = cata + cbtb + ….. Cntn

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 Time Weighted Average
(TWA)
T = time

C = concentration of contaminant during

that period

This concept has proven to be a useful

means of estimating the long term chronic
effects of exposure to most substances in
the workplace

28 It does measure the amount that can be

inhaled during a workday
 TLV & PEL
TLV – TWA @ TWA:
▪Acetic acid – 10 ppm, 25 mg/m3
▪Asbestos – 0.1 f/ml
TLV – C @ Ceiling Limit:
▪Formaldehyde – 0.3 ppm, 0.37 mg/m3
TLV – STEL @ MEL:
▪Acetic acid – 30 ppm

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 CONCLUSION
Occupational health standard is
important to protect the worker and
as guidance to OSH professional

Permissible exposure limit:

Ceiling limit
Time Weighted Average
Maximum Exposure Limit

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 THE END
Any
Question?

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