Occupational Health Assessment

Sadhra, S.S., and Rampal, K.G. (1999) Occupational Health Assessment and Management, Blackwell Science, Oxford. 

B. Process health and safety review preconstruction written occupational health assessment of each worksite or process or situation, prepared prior to final design... 

Monitoring, Measurement, and Assessment methods are listed in Section 6.1 of ZIO. The methods listed include workplace inspections, exposure assessments, incident tracking, employee input, occupational health assessment, and procedures for addressing other needs as required by the employer s occupational health and safety management system. Findings deriving from such processes are to be communicated to interested parties. 

The literature on worlq)lace inspections is abundant. Thus, that subject is not further addressed here. Measurements of effectiveness with respect to injury exposure assessments and occupational health assessments determine how well the requirements for the assessment and prioritization processes as set forth in Section 4.2 of ZIO have been fulfilled. They require that organizations have processes in place to assess the risks pertaining to health and safety exposures. Those processes are addressed in Chapters 8-10 here. 

Department of Health Right to Know Unit Environmental Occupational Health Assessment Program P.O. Box 368 Trenton, NJ 08625-0368 (609) 984-2202... 

Hassim, M.H. Hurme, M. 2010. Inherent occupational health assessment during process research and development stage. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 2i 127-138. 

It can be summarized that the earlier studies focused more on health impact to humans in conjunction with the usage of biofuel and fossil fuel. Not until recently, the idea of inherent occupational health is being adopted into biomass processes. The works are actually done in a company with inherent safety assessment by Ng et al. (2013) and Liew et al. (2014) as described before in Section 14.6. Both used the Inherent Occupational Health Index (lOHI), an index-based method for inherent occupational health assessment of chemical synthesis processes. The method will be discussed in further detail in the next section. 

Hassim, M. H., 2010, Inherent Occupational Health Assessment in Chemical Process Development and Design [Doctoral Dissertation], Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Espoo. 

Chan TL, Rouhana SW, Mulawa PA, Reuter RJ. Occupational health assessment of the high velocity Oxy-fuel thermal metal spray process. Appl Occup Environ Hyg 1995 10 482-487. 

It is an accepted practice when assessing the environmental effects of pollution on man and his place of abode to use a divisor of 40 (some agencies may divide by 30) against the long-term exposure level in the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA). Much lower exposure limits are necessary due to the much longer term of exposure in the domestic situation. The section of the population most likely to spend long periods of time in the home are those most susceptible to the detrimental effects of pollutants, i.e. the young, the elderly or the infirm. For short-term exposure the known data can be used directly from the list or from animal-exposure data. 

Klasson-Wehler, E., Kuroki, H., and Athanasiadou, M. et al. (1992). Selective retention of hydroxylated PCBs in blood. In Organohalogen Compounds Vol 10 Toxicology, Epidemiology, Risk Assessment, and Management, Helsinki Finnish Institute of Occupational Health 121-122. 

Abadin HG, Wheeler JS, Jones DE, et al. 1997a. A framework to guide public health assessment decisions at lead sites. J Clean Technol Environ Toxicol Occup Med 6 225-237. 

This volume will be of interest to toxicologists, immunologists, clinicians, and scientists working in the area of environmental health. It should also be of interest to individuals involved in occupational health, safety assessment, and regulatory decisions. Although we assume that most readers have at least some understanding of immunology, we have attempted to prepare this book so that any individual interested in environmental sciences could follow it. 

Heikkila et al. (1996) have expanded the work of Hurme and Jarvelainen (1995) with environmental and safety aspects (Fig. 11). The alternatives are simulated to determine the material and heat balances and to estimate the physical properties. Then the alternatives are assessed in economic terms for which the internal rate of return is used. The environmental effects are estimated by equivalent amount of pollutant that takes into consideration the harmfullness of the different effluent substances. With environmental risks are also considered aspects of occupational health to choose inherently healthier process. Even though most health related rules are considered later in the work instructions, health effects should also be a part of the decision procedure. The inherent safety is estimated in terms of the inherent safety index as described later. 

The use of screens in environmental assessment and occupational health is fairly straightforward. On the occupational side, the concerns (as addressed in Chapter 11 of this volume) address the potential hazards to those involved in making the bulk drug. The need to address potential environmental concerns covers both true environmental items (aquatic toxicity, etc.) and potential health concerns for environmental exposures of individuals. The resulting work tends to be either regulatorily defined tests (for aquatic toxicity) or defined endpoints such as dermal irritation and sensitization, which have been (in a sense) screened for already in other nonspecific tests. 

In the pharmaceutical industry, acute toxicity testing has uses other than for product safety determinations. First, as in other industries, acute toxicity determinations are part of industrial hygiene or occupational health environmental impact assessments (Deichmann and Gerarde, 1969). These requirements demand testing not only for finished products but frequently of intermediates as well. These issues and requirements, however, are discussed in Chapter 2 and are not directly addressed here. 

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