Aug 21, 2019

The NIOSH Occupational Exposure Banding Process for Chemical Risk Management

Thumbnail image of NIOSH Publication 2019-132

Occupational exposure limits (OELs) play a critical role in protecting workers and emergency response personnel from exposure to dangerous concentrations of hazardous materials [Cook 1987; Deveau et al. 2015; Paustenbach 1998; Nikfar and Malekirad 2014; Schulte et al. 2010; SkowroĊ„ and Czerczak 2015]. In the absence of an OEL, determining the appropriate controls needed to protect workers from chemical exposures can be challenging. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory currently contains over 85,000 chemicals that are commercially available [US EPA 2015], yet only about 1,000 of these have been assigned an authoritative (government, consensus, or peer reviewed) OEL. Furthermore, the rate at which new chemical substances are being introduced into commerce significantly outpaces OEL development, creating a need for guidance on thousands of chemical substances that lack reliable exposure limits [OSHA 2014].

Occupational exposure banding, also known as hazard banding or health hazard banding, is a systematic process that uses qualitative and quantitative hazard information on selected health-effect endpoints to identify potential exposure ranges or categories. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) occupational exposure banding process seeks to create a consistent and documented process with a decision logic to characterize chemical hazards so that timely, well-informed risk management decisions can be made for chemical substances that lack OELs. Users can band a chemical manually or by using the occupational exposure banding e-Tool. Overall, this document provides the background, rationale, and instructions for the occupational exposure banding process and gives guidance for risk managers to identify control levels for chemicals without authoritative OELs.

The NIOSH Occupational Exposure Banding Process for Chemical Risk Management [PDF – 3 MB]

Aug 1, 2019

Russian Titanic released 100 times more radiation in Europe than 2011’s Fukushima disaster.

Mysterious radioactive leak that swept Europe came from Russia, study confirms despite Kremlin denial

The source of a mysterious radioactive leak that swept Europe in 2017 has been traced to a nuclear processing plant in the southern Ural mountains in Russia, a new study confirms. 

Scientists analysed more than 1,300 data points all over the world to find the source of the enormous leak, which released 100 times more radiation in Europe than 2011's Fukushima disaster. 

The source – which is believed to be the Russian Mayak facility – was not a reactor accident but an incident in a nuclear reprocessing plant, researchers found.  

Russia has always denied the facility was the source and no official statement has been released in response to this latest research. 

The alarm bell was raised in October 2017 by Italian scientists who noticed a spike of the radioactive ruthenium-106. It was then detected in many European countries as well as in Asia, the Arabian Peninsula and even in the Caribbean.

The fact that ruthenium was the only radioactive material detected strongly suggested the source was a nuclear reprocessing plant, as reactor accidents typically release a number of different elements. 

Scientists could pinpoint the release to between 6pm on 25 September 2017 to noon the following day.