Classification of occupational activities for assessment of inhalation exposure

Hans Marquart*, Thomas Schneider, Henk Goede, Martin Tischer, Jody Schinkel, Nick Warren, Wouter Fransman, Suzanne Spaan, Martie Van Tongeren, Hans Kromhout, Erik Tielemans, John Cherrie

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    26 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    There is a large variety of activities in workplaces that can lead to emission of substances. Coding systems based on determinants of emission have so far not been developed. In this paper, a system of Activity Classes and Activity Subclasses is proposed for categorizing activities involving chemical use. Activity Classes share their so-called 'emission generation mechanisms' and physical state of the product handled and the underlying determinants of emission. A number of (industrial) stakeholders actively participated in testing and fine-tuning the system. With the help of these stakeholders, it was found to be relatively easy to allocate a large number of activities to the Activity Classes and Activity Subclasses. The system facilitates a more structured classification of activities in exposure databases, a structured analysis of the analogy of exposure activities, and a transparent quantification of the activity emission potential in (new) exposure assessment models. The first use of the system is in the Advanced REACH Tool.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)989-1005
    Number of pages17
    JournalAnnals of Occupational Hygiene
    Volume55
    Issue number9
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2011

    Keywords

    • determinants of exposure
    • exposure assessment methodology
    • exposure modeling
    • REACH

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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