Risk assessment occupational

Nethercott J, Paustenbach D, Adams R, et al. 1994. A study of chromium induced allergic contact dermatitis with 54 volunteers Implications for environmental risk assessment. Occup Environ Med 51 371-380. 

Risk Assessment, Occupational Exposure Limits and the UK COSHH Regulations... 

Personal exposure Predictions of exposure of occupants to airborne contaminants for risk assessment, inhaled doses, or time-integrated concentration values. 

Leng G, Lewalter J. 1999. Role of individual susceptibility in risk assessment of pesticides. Occup Environ Med 56 449-453. 

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. 

The approach to developing metrics for process safety is analogous to those that might be used to assess Occupational Exposure risk. One can cite as well several indices that have been developed as metrics for estimating and ranking the safety of a given process or chemical reaction, such as the DOW fire and explosion index,the Stoessel index ° for hazard assessment and classification of chemical reactions, the Inherent Safety Index, the Prototype Index for Inherent Safety, amongst others. ... 

The first step in a process plant building risk assessment is to identify specific accident scenarios that endanger building occupants. As discussed in Chapter 2 and illustrated in Table 2.1, accident scenarios are sequences of events that lead to an outcome of concern. The specific outcomes of concern are those involving explosions or fires that could impact buildings in process plants. 

Occupant vulnerabilities are one of the key factors in determining the levels of both individual and aggregate risks for building occupants. Occupant vulnerabilities are used in risk screening as discussed in Chapter 4 and are used in detailed risk assessments. 

Evaluating risk to process plant building occupants can be accomplished through detailed qualitative and/or quantitative risk assessment. However, because of the large numbers of buildings and varying plant situations involved, these types of studies could be costly and time-consuming if applied in all cases, and should be reserved for those situations for which cost-effective solutions cannot otherwise be identified. 

There is a growing need to better characterize the health risk related to occupational and environmental exposure to pesticides. Risk characterization is a basic step in the assessment and management of the health risks related to chemicals (Tordoir and Maroni, 1994). Evaluation of exposure, which may be performed through environmental and biological monitoring, is a fundamental component of risk assessment. Biomarkers are useful tools that may be used in risk assessment to confirm exposure or to quantify it by estimating the internal dose. Besides their use in risk assessment, biomarkers also represent a fundamental tool to improve the effectiveness of medical and epidemiological surveillance. 

Franklin, C. (1985) Occupational exposure to pesticides and its role in risk assessment procedures used in Canada, in Dermal Exposure Related to Pesticide Use, Honeycutt, R., Zweig, G., and Ragsdale, N.N., Eds., ACS Symposium Series No. 273, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C. 

The output of an exposure and risk assessment will usually describe the levels of exposure and quantity the population exposed for both humans and other biota, and will estimate the associated probabilities of the incidence of adverse health effects. Population exposure or risk, obtained by multiplying the individual (per capita) exposure or risk by the numbers exposed at each level of exposure, may also be a useful measure of impact. Various analyses can be performed on the results, for example, comparison of exposures in a particular geographic area against national average exposure levels. Likewise, for the same pollutant, environmental risks due to a particular industry might be compared against risks associated with occupational or household activities. In addition, the health risk of different substances could be compared for priority setting. 

For human health risk assessment, it is necessary to elaborate realistic scenarios. Knowledge of real scenarios where the contaminant is emitted to the environment will help to obtain information about the fate and transport of the contaminant once emitted to the environment and the route of exposure for the human beings living in this scenario of concern. There are different types of exposure, i.e., direct, indirect (as is the case of food contaminated by the air, water, or soil contaminated by the emission), occupational exposure, and consumer goods coming from outside the scenario of concern. Depending on the objective of the study, it will be necessary to consider in the exposure assessment one or more types of exposure. 

The dangerous properties of acute toxicity, irritation, corrosivity, sensitisation, repeated-dose toxicity and CMR are evaluated in terms of their potential toxic effects to workers, consumers and man exposed indirectly via the environment, based on the use for each stage in the lifecycle of the substance from which exposure can occur. Risk assessment is also required if there are reasonable grounds for concern for potential hazardous properties, e.g., from positive in vitro mutagenicity tests or structural alerts. The risk assessment involves comparing the estimated occupational or consumer exposure levels with the exposure levels at which no adverse effects are anticipated. This may be a quantitative risk assessment, based on the ratio between the two values, or a qualitative evaluation. The principles of human health risk assessment are covered in detail by Illing (a.30) and more briefly in Chapter 7 of (73). 

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