Proceedings
The conference "Occupational Limit Values for Hazardous Substances - Healthy working conditions in a global economy" of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS), Germany, took place in Dortmund from 7 to 8 May 2007 with more than 200 experts.
The new European chemicals policy REACH entered into force on 1 June 2007. Various stakeholders had to prepare for complying with the regulation. The German Presidency of the European Council intended to contribute to the realisation of the new chemicals policy. Various exposure levels for chemicals at the workplace are currently established in Europe or will be in the near future: "OEL - occupational exposure limits" from member states or European institutions, "AOEL - acceptable operator exposure levels" for biocides or pesticides, "DNEL - derived no effects levels" within the framework of the new REACH regulation. The conference intended to summarise the underlying concepts and consequences for occupational safety and health. Eventually, it provided suggestions which might be used by the European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki.
The programme, presentations and conclusions of the conference can be downloaded below.
List of participants (PDF, 37 KB)
Welcome and Introduction
Welcoming address (in German) (PDF, 33 KB)
Cornelia Fischer, Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Bonn, Germany
Risk communication and occupational limit values - need for a better understanding (PDF, 63 KB)
Ragnar Lofstedt, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
Presentations
Multiple starting points - common goals
The REACH tool: derived no effect levels (DNEL) (PDF, 310 KB)
Sharon Munn, European Chemicals Bureau (ECB), Ispra, Italy
DNEL: multiple values for identical substances? (PDF, 151 KB)
Martin Kayser, BASF AG, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Occupational exposure limits (OEL) at the national level (PDF, 208 KB)
Andrea Hartwig, Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area (German MAK-Commission), Berlin, Germany
The SCOEL Work and Decision-Making Processes (PDF, 3 MB)
Vito Foá, Chairman of the European Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL), Mailand, Italy
Special tool: acceptable operator exposure level (AOEL) (PDF, 361 KB)
Cees de Heer, National Institute for Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Derivation of OELs at Community level - Future Perspectives (PDF, 89 KB)
Antonis Angelidis, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Luxembourg
Ensuring exposure limitation
Compliance with occupational limit values by applying the principles of Good Control Practice (PDF, 269 KB)
Christine Northage, Health Safety Executive (HSE), Bootle, United Kingdom
Compliance with occupational limit values by applying workplace measurements (PDF, 429 KB)
Ralph Hebisch, Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Dortmund, Germany
Necessary changes
New responsibility for trade unions to ensure workers health within the framework of REACH (PDF, 196 KB)
Tony Musu, European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education, Safety and Health (ETUI-REHS), Brussels, Belgium
Integration of DNEL into national regulations for occupational safety and health. The situation in the Slovak Republic (PDF, 334 KB)
Eleonora Fabianova, Regional Authority of Public Health, Banska Bystrica, Slovak Republic
Integration of DNEL into Polish regulations for occupational safety and health (PDF, 120 KB)
Jan Gromiec, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland
Derived-No-Effect-Levels (DNEL) (PDF, 85 KB)
Helmut Klein, Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Germany
Integration of DNEL into national regulations for occupational safety and health (PDF, 183 KB)
Ad Vijlbrief, Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, The Netherlands
Conclusions
On the Outcome of the German Presidency OEL Conference - Summary Comments (PDF, 40 KB)
Elke Schneider, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Bilbao, Spain
Harmonising OELs and DNELs at European Level - a position paper reflecting the results at the OEL-conference in Dortmund (PDF, 42 KB)
F. Kalberlah, FoBiG, Forschungs- und Beratungsinstitut Gefahrstoffe GmbH, Freiburg, Germany
Poster
Comparison of default assessment factors in the derivation of OELs and DNELs (PDF, 655 KB)
F. Kalberlah, FoBiG, Forschungs- und Beratungsinstitut Gefahrstoffe GmbH, Freiburg, Germany
The system of establishing MAC values in Poland (PDF, 297 KB)
Jolanta Skowroń Ph. D., Małgorzata Pośniak Ph. D., Central Institute for Labour Protection - National Research Institute (CIOP-PIB), Warsaw, Poland
Deriving Surrogate DNELs for Preparations under the Scope of REACH (PDF, 113 KB)
D. Keller, W. Aulmann, Henkel KGaA, Düsseldorf, Germany
Hazardous substances in the recycling industry: Recycling of motor vehicles and electronic scrap (PDF, 565 KB)
Ländermessstellen für chemischen Arbeitsschutz und BAuA, Germany
Entwicklung eines probabilistischen Modells zur Wirkungsabschätzung für Schadstoffe am Arbeitsplatz (PDF, 1 MB)
K. Schneider¹, M. Hassauer¹, J. Oltmanns¹, E. Elmshäuser², O. Mosbach-Schulz², U. Schuhmacher-Wolz¹
¹) FoBiG, Forschungs- und Beratungsinstitut Gefahrstoffe GmbH, Freiburg, Germany
²) Institut für Statistik, Risikoforschung, Umwelt und Gesundheit, Universität Bremen, Germany
Links and Literature
Links and Literature - Selected further information sources (PDF, 84 KB)