An Assessment of the Robustness of the COSHH-Essentials (C-E) Target Airborne Concentration Ranges 15 Years on, and Their Usefulness for Determining Control Measures

Abstract The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in Great Britain (GB), in association with its stakeholders, developed the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH)-Essentials (C-E) control banding tool in 1998. The objective was to provide a simple tool for employers, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to help select and apply appropriate measures for the adequate control of exposure to hazardous substances. The tool used hazard classification information (R-phrases) to assign substances to one of five health hazard groups, each with its respective ‘target airborne concentration range’. The validity of the allocation of substances to a target airborne concentration range was demonstrated at the time using 111 substances that had a current health-based Occupational Exposure Limit (OEL) in GB. The C-E control banding approach remains an important tool to complement exposure assessment/monitoring and the selection and use of suitable control measures for hazardous substances. These include engineering controls and personal protective equipment (PPE). The C-E based control banding approach has been adopted around the world. This paper extends the original validation exercise, using a greater number of chemical substances, to establish whether the target airborne concentration ranges remain appropriate. This is of particular interest in light of the introduction of the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for classification, in which R-phrases have now been replaced by hazard-statements (H-statements). The validation exercise includes substances with OELs published by nine bodies internationally; and the Derived No-Effect Levels (DNELs) assigned by registrants under the European Union—Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulations. When compared against 8-hour TWA OELs for 850 substances drawn from nine bodies and a limited number of DNELS, the C-E target airborne concentration ranges remain valid. This comparative work also informs a wider consideration around the practicality and the applicability of the C-E generic approach to facilitate the implementation of good practice control for a wide range of substances (more than 95%) which do not have any recognized OEL.

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Recognizing and Preventing Occupational and Environmental Disease and Injury

10.1093/oso/9780190662677.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Rosemary K. Sokas ◽

Barry S. Levy ◽

David H. Wegman ◽

Sherry L. Baron

Keyword(s):

Preventive Measures ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Job Design ◽

Hazardous Substances ◽

Disease Clusters ◽

Engineering Controls ◽

Health History ◽

Environmental Disease ◽

The Individual ◽

And Training

This chapter describes various approaches to recognizing and preventing occupational and environmental disease and injury from primarily a clinical perspective. It describes in detail the occupational and environmental health history, including what questions to ask and when to ask them. It also describes recognizing occupational or environmental disease clusters or outbreaks. The chapter describes in detail the options that health and safety professionals have for implementing and facilitating preventive measures, including substitution of hazardous substances, installation of engineering controls, changes in job design and work practices and organization, education and training, use of personal protective equipment, and screening surveillance. Prevention options are discussed both at the individual and organizational levels.

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Rapid evidence review to inform safe return to campus in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Wellcome Open Research ◽

10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17270.2 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 282

Author(s):

Trisha Greenhalgh ◽

Aris Katzourakis ◽

Tristram D. Wyatt ◽

Stephen Griffin

Keyword(s):

Online Education ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Control Measures ◽

Transmission Risk ◽

Source Control ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Engineering Controls ◽

Narrative Methods ◽

Wide Range ◽

Lateral Flow Tests

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is transmitted predominantly through the air in crowded and unventilated indoor spaces, especially among unvaccinated people. Universities and colleges are potential settings for its spread. Methods: An interdisciplinary team from public health, virology, and biology used narrative methods to summarise and synthesise evidence on key control measures, taking account of mode of transmission. Results: Evidence from a wide range of primary studies supports six measures. Vaccinate (aim for > 90% coverage and make it easy to get a jab). Require masks indoors, especially in crowded settings. If everyone wears well-fitting cloth masks, source control will be high, but for maximum self-protection, respirator masks should be worn. Masks should not be removed for speaking or singing. Space people out by physical distancing (but there is no “safe” distance because transmission risk varies with factors such as ventilation, activity levels and crowding), reducing class size (including offering blended learning), and cohorting (students remain in small groups with no cross-mixing). Clean indoor air using engineering controls—ventilation (while monitoring CO2 levels), inbuilt filtration systems, or portable air cleaners fitted with high efficiency particulate air [HEPA] filters). Test asymptomatic staff and students using lateral flow tests, with tracing and isolating infectious cases when incidence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is high. Support clinically vulnerable people to work remotely. There is no direct evidence to support hand sanitising, fomite controls or temperature-taking. There was no evidence that freestanding plastic screens, face visors and electronic air-cleaning systems are effective. Conclusions: The above evidence-based measures should be combined into a multi-faceted strategy to maximise both student safety and the continuation of in-person and online education provision. Those seeking to provide a safe working and learning environment should collect data (e.g. CO2 levels, room occupancy) to inform their efforts.

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Rapid evidence review to inform safe return to campus in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Wellcome Open Research ◽

10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17270.1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 282

Author(s):

Trisha Greenhalgh ◽

Aris Katzourakis ◽

Tristram D. Wyatt ◽

Stephen Griffin

Keyword(s):

Online Education ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Control Measures ◽

Transmission Risk ◽

Source Control ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Engineering Controls ◽

Narrative Methods ◽

Wide Range ◽

Lateral Flow Tests

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is transmitted predominantly through the air in crowded and unventilated indoor spaces among unvaccinated people. Universities and colleges are potential settings for its spread. Methods: An interdisciplinary team from public health, virology, and biology used narrative methods to summarise and synthesise evidence on key control measures, taking account of mode of transmission. Results: Evidence from a wide range of primary studies supports six measures. Vaccinate (aim for > 90% coverage and make it easy to get a jab). Require masks indoors, especially in crowded settings. If everyone wears well-fitting cloth masks, source control will be high, but for maximum self-protection, respirator masks should be worn. Masks should not be removed for speaking or singing. Space people out by physical distancing (but there is no “safe” distance because transmission risk varies with factors such as ventilation, activity levels and crowding), reducing class size (including offering blended learning), and cohorting (students remain in small groups with no cross-mixing). Clean indoor air using engineering controls—ventilation (while monitoring CO2 levels), inbuilt filtration systems, or portable air cleaners fitted with high efficiency particulate air [HEPA] filters). Test asymptomatic staff and students using lateral flow tests, with tracing and isolating infectious cases when incidence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is high. Support clinically vulnerable people to work remotely. There is no direct evidence to support hand sanitising, fomite controls or temperature-taking. There is evidence that freestanding plastic screens, face visors and electronic air-cleaning systems are ineffective. Conclusions: The above six evidence-based measures should be combined into a multi-faceted strategy to maximise both student safety and the continuation of in-person and online education provision. Staff and students seeking to negotiate a safe working and learning environment should collect data (e.g. CO2 levels, room occupancy) to inform conversations.

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Convergence toward the European Social Model? Impact of EU accession on Polish social policy

Canadian Journal of European and Russian Studies ◽

10.22215/cjers.v1i1.2396 ◽

2005 ◽

Author(s):

Jakub Wiśniewski

Keyword(s):

Social Policy ◽

Welfare State ◽

Social Inclusion ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Economic Restructuring ◽

Social Model ◽

The European Union ◽

European Social Model ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Impact

In order to join the European Union (EU) Poland had to meet a wide range of conditions including adoption of acquis communautaire, significant administrative reforms and economic restructuring. This article deals with all these EU-membership commitments which directly influenced the Polish social policy, spanning such areas as free movement of persons (mainly workers), labour law, social dialogue, labour market and social inclusion policies and pensions. These changes - even if incremental and evolutionary - made the Polish welfare state more compatible with the European Social Model. Judging from the experience of Poland, the European Social Model (ESM) is far from vague and meaningless ideology. The ESM has had a significant impact on national social policies which is discernible at four general levels: values and general rules, which engender a welfare state philosophy shared by all Member States; Community-enforced social minimum standards; European-level institutional co-operative procedures; and monetary transfers in the framework of cohesion policy. The impact of the EU is visible to a varying degree – ranging from substantial in the peripheral areas such as gender equality or health and safety at work to purely theoretical in fiscal and monetary matters. The Polish welfare state has been heavily influenced by practical day-to-day administrative and institutional co-operation of Poland with the UE. Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v1i1.159

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Substitution of hazardous substances for health and environment: lessons and experiences from European projects

Transfer European Review of Labour and Research ◽

10.1177/102425899900500409 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 566-587

Author(s):

Francesc La-Roca ◽

Graciela Ferrer ◽

Kees Le Blansch ◽

Lothar Lissner ◽

Børge Lorentzen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Trade Unions ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Process Industry ◽

Hazardous Substances ◽

The European Union ◽

Technological Transfer ◽

Cultural Framework ◽

Substitution Process ◽

Industrial Sustainability ◽

Volatile Organic

This paper deals with substitution of hazardous substances in production processes for environmental and health and safety reasons, with special reference to experiences of substitution of volatile organic compounds in paints and in concrete mould release agents. Substitution in this context is seen as a particular kind of technological transfer, in which the main value of the technology lies in its environmental and health and safety performances, as a contribution to industrial sustainability. The authors identify the main actors of the substitution process (industry, trade unions, NGOs, etc.), the role they play in such a process (promoter, target group, ally or opposer) and the scene in which the action develops (i.e. the institutional and cultural framework). Building on the lessons and experiences drawn from the analysis of twenty cases in different sectors throughout the European Union, factors favouring and opposing substitution, as well as the features of "good" promoters and projects, are analysed.

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Convergence toward the European Social Model? Impact of EU accession on Polish social policy

Review of European and Russian Affairs ◽

10.22215/rera.v1i1.159 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jakub Wiśniewski

Keyword(s):

Social Policy ◽

Welfare State ◽

Social Inclusion ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Economic Restructuring ◽

Social Model ◽

The European Union ◽

European Social Model ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Impact

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The Politics of Precaution

10.23943/princeton/9780691124162.001.0001 ◽

2012 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

David Vogel

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Animal Feed ◽

The United States ◽

Hazardous Substances ◽

Risk Regulation ◽

Scientific Certainty ◽

European Public ◽

Wide Range ◽

Regulatory Controls ◽

Milk Hormones

This book examines the politics of consumer and environmental risk regulation in the United States and Europe over the last five decades, explaining why America and Europe have often regulated a wide range of similar risks differently. It finds that between 1960 and 1990, American health, safety, and environmental regulations were more stringent, risk averse, comprehensive, and innovative than those adopted in Europe. But since around 1990 global regulatory leadership has shifted to Europe. What explains this striking reversal? This book takes an in-depth, comparative look at European and American policies toward a range of consumer and environmental risks, including vehicle air pollution, ozone depletion, climate change, beef and milk hormones, genetically modified agriculture, antibiotics in animal feed, pesticides, cosmetic safety, and hazardous substances in electronic products. The book traces how concerns over such risks—and pressure on political leaders to do something about them—have risen among the European public but declined among Americans. The book explores how policymakers in Europe have grown supportive of more stringent regulations while those in the United States have become sharply polarized along partisan lines. And as European policymakers have grown more willing to regulate risks on precautionary grounds, increasingly skeptical American policymakers have called for higher levels of scientific certainty before imposing additional regulatory controls on business.

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COVID-19 Outbreak Prediction with Machine Learning

10.34055/osf.io/xr4js ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sina Faizollahzadeh Ardabili ◽

Amir Mosavi ◽

Pedram Ghamisi ◽

Filip Ferdinand ◽

Annamaria R. Varkonyi-Koczy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Prediction Models ◽

Fuzzy Inference ◽

Control Measures ◽

Future Research ◽

Complex Nature ◽

Inference System ◽

Wide Range ◽

Standard Models ◽

High Level

Several outbreak prediction models for COVID-19 are being used by officials around the world to make informed-decisions and enforce relevant control measures. Among the standard models for COVID-19 global pandemic prediction, simple epidemiological and statistical models have received more attention by authorities, and they are popular in the media. Due to a high level of uncertainty and lack of essential data, standard models have shown low accuracy for long-term prediction. Although the literature includes several attempts to address this issue, the essential generalization and robustness abilities of existing models needs to be improved. This paper presents a comparative analysis of machine learning and soft computing models to predict the COVID-19 outbreak as an alternative to SIR and SEIR models. Among a wide range of machine learning models investigated, two models showed promising results (i.e., multi-layered perceptron, MLP, and adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system, ANFIS). Based on the results reported here, and due to the highly complex nature of the COVID-19 outbreak and variation in its behavior from nation-to-nation, this study suggests machine learning as an effective tool to model the outbreak. This paper provides an initial benchmarking to demonstrate the potential of machine learning for future research. Paper further suggests that real novelty in outbreak prediction can be realized through integrating machine learning and SEIR models.

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Conducting Worksite Investigations

10.1093/oso/9780190662677.003.0038 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Bruce P. Bernard

Keyword(s):

Occupational Safety ◽

Health Management ◽

Health Hazard ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Employee Health ◽

Hazard Evaluation ◽

Workplace Hazards ◽

Health Concerns ◽

Workplace Conditions ◽

Safety And Health

This chapter focuses on conducting worksite investigations, including walkthrough surveys, and provides occupational health and safety personnel, employees, and employers the opportunity to identify and assess current workplace conditions and employee health concerns and make recommendations on how to reduce or eliminate any identified workplace hazards. The methods described cover ways to implement corrective actions necessary for preventing future adverse incidents and to identify shortcomings in safety and health management programs. Various specific examples are provided. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Hazard Evaluation Program, which has experience with all types of workplace hazards, is described. Preparing for and conducting workplace investigations is described in detail.

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Occupational and Environmental Health

10.1093/oso/9780190662677.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Occupational Health ◽

Environmental Health ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Practical Experience ◽

Global Perspective ◽

Clear Understanding ◽

Practical Case ◽

Environmental Sciences ◽

Wide Range

This thoroughly updated seventh edition is a comprehensive, clearly written, and practical textbook that includes information on both occupational health and environmental health, providing the necessary foundation for recognizing and preventing work-related and environmentally induced diseases and injuries. National and international experts share their knowledge and practical experience in addressing a wide range of issues and evolving challenges in their fields. A multidisciplinary approach makes this an ideal textbook for students and practitioners in public health, occupational and environmental medicine, occupational health nursing, epidemiology, toxicology, occupational and environmental hygiene, safety, ergonomics, environmental sciences, and other fields. Comprehensive coverage provides a clear understanding of occupational and environmental health and its relationships to public health, environmental sciences, and government policy. Practical case studies demonstrate how to apply the basic principles of occupational and environmental health to real-world challenges. Numerous tables, graphs, and photographs reinforce key concepts. Annotated Further Reading sections at the end of chapters provide avenues for obtaining further infomation. This new edition of the book is thoroughly updated and also contains new chapters on climate change, children’s environmental health, liver disorders, kidney disorders, and a global perspective on occupational health and safety.

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