Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health

A document titled Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems and identified as ILO/OSH 2001 was issued by the International Labour Office, Geneva, in June 2001. This is tmly an international document with far-reaching consequences. For general industry, it is now the world s model. 

Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems, ILO/OSH 2001. hnemational Labour Office, Geneva, 2001, http //www.ilo.org/pubfic/ engfish/protection/safework/cops/engfish/download/eOOOO 13. pdf. 

International Labour Organization, OSH 2001, Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems, 2001 ... 

The International Labor Organization (ILO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with a primary goal to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security, and human dignity. The ILO developed its voluntary guidelines on occupational safety and health (OSH) management systems in 2001 ILO-OSH 2001 Guidelines. 

When it approved the New Animal Drug AppHcation (NADA) of formalin, FDA ruled that use of formalin for fisheries was safe for humans and the environment. They ruled that effluents from fish treatments at 250 mg/L should be diluted 10 times and from egg treatments 75 times if 1,000 —2,000 mg/L were used (10,11). Before registering the compound, FDA also addressed carcinogenicity by stating it was not concerned about human exposure from either water or fish treated with formalin. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has procedural guidelines that should protect workers from harm fill levels of formalin. Calculations based on treatment levels demonstrated that a fishery worker is exposed to not more than 0.117 mg/L formalin in the air, well below the levels estabUshed by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to protect workers. 

Effective April 2001, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced new guidelines on needle stick prevention. Under the theory that prevention is the best medicine, revisions were made in the Bloodbome Fhthogens Standard. The revisions clarify the need for employers to select safer needle devices as they become available and to involve employees in identifying and choosing the devices. Employers with 11 or more employees must also maintain a Sharps Injury Log to include (at least) the following components ... 

AIRBORNE EXPOSURE LIMIT (AEL) The permissible airborne exposure concentration for GB for an 6 hour workday or a 40 hour work week is an 8 hour time weight average (TWA) of 0.0001 mg/m3. This value is based on the TWA or GB which can be found in AR 40-8, Occupational Health Guidelines for the Evaluation and Control of Occupational Exposure to Nerve Agents GA, GB, GD, and VX. To date, however, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not promulgated a permissible exposure concentration for GB. 

One of the best ways to determine that potential is to examine the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), which by law in most jurisdictions must be provided by the manufacturer for any hazardous material used in the workplace and made available to the employees by plant management. The MSDS provides all the information necessary to determine the hazard potential and the requirements for control of any hazardous substance. Still other information can be found in the various guidelines published by the American Industrial Health Association, or by the U.S. National Safety Council, or by NIOSH (the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) or various other national, state, or provincial government bodies. (See Appendix II for information on sources.) Once you have an inventory, of course, you can start relating potential health problems to possible sources in particular areas. Also, in the process of preparing this report, you will begin to build an invaluable library that will stand you in good stead for further consideration of the problems at hand. 

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommend that the highest average amount of heptachlor in workplace air over an 8-hour workday for a 40-hour workweek not be more than 0.5 mg/m. For more information on standards and guidelines for heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide, see Chapter/. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets rules for cresol levels in the workplace. The occupational exposure limit for 8-hour workdays over a 40-hour work week is 22 milligrams of cresols per cubic meter of air (22 mg/m ), which is equivalent to 5 ppm. See Chapter 7 for more information on regulations and guidelines for cresols. 

Plant workers are exposed to the raw materials, intermediates, products, byproducts, and waste discharge. Regulations for the protection of plant workers are under the jurisdiction of the OSHA, and supported by the research arm of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). They issue a number of enforceable guidelines for safety, and they also issue advisories that are suggested but not required. We concentrate here on hazards that are specific to chemicals flammability, and toxicity through breathing the air and by skin exposure. 

Occupational standards for JP-8 are primarily based on knowledge about the toxicity of kerosene and naphtha (a petroleum distillate fraction). National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) guidelines include an 8-hour (hr) time-weighted-average recommended exposure limit (TWA-REL) for naphtha of 400 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3) (100 parts per million (ppm)) (NIOSH... 

Although the CW agents and TICs are very toxic, various federal agencies have developed guidelines for possible exposures to determine safe concentrations and times for various operations for each chemical. These are based on work and exposures civilians and mihtary personnel may be required to experience in a toxic environment. There are different exposure times for various activities and therefore for various agencies. Eor example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets permissible exposure levels (PELs) for people who might be exposed... 

Decontamination teams, at least one horn each shift, including weekends, should be trained in decontamination while in PPE. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has specific guidelines/regulations concerning use of PPE, and noncompliance with them may bring stiff fines. Refer to the OSHA Web site, specifically 29 CFR 1910.120 and 29 CFR 1910.134. Additionally, information on CBRNE equipment may be found at 42 CFR 84. 

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