National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

“ Administrative controls and PPE are frequently used with existing processes where hazards cannot be effectively controlled solely with engineering controls. This could occur when control measures are not feasible or do not reduce exposures to an acceptable level. Administrative controls and PPE programs may be less expensive to establish but, over the long term, can be very costly to sustain. These methods for protecting workers have proven to be less effective than other measures and require significant efforts by the affected workers. ”

“ These measures require worker interaction with the process or active steps to limit the extent of the hazard. Most effective PtD approaches reduce or eliminate hazardous conditions without relying on input from workers. Humans are generally recognized as being much less reliable than most machines, particularly in emergencies [Kletz 2001] . The use of administrative controls and PPE in PtD strategies is generally for redundancy—further safeguards should the primary control fail. The ideal time to develop a PtD strategy is during the development phase of a process, material, or facility. ”

“ A major advantage of engineering controls is that, when properly designed, they require little or no user effort or training to be effective. Many industries have implemented engineering controls to reduce exposure and risk of disease among their workers. The pharmaceutical industry uses hazardous (i.e., biologically active) liquids and powders that often do not have OELs. To address these hazards, the pharmaceutical industry has adopted a performance-based strategy using exposure control limits. ”

“ Respirators in the workplace should be used as part of a comprehensive respiratory protection program. The program should include written standard operating procedures; workplace monitoring; hazard-based selection ”

“ A valuable application of administrative controls is as a redundancy to engineering controls. While the engineering controls provide the primary protection for the worker, the administrative controls serve as back-up should the engineering control fail.
NIOSH recommends that facilities implement the following work practices as part of an overall strategy to control worker exposure to nanomaterials: (1) Educate workers on the safe handling of engineered nanomaterials to minimize the likelihood of inhalation exposure and skin contact. ”

“ These methods are intended to promote accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in industrial hygiene analyses. There will be situations where users of the NIOSH methods will need to modify them (e.g., to accommodate interfering compounds from the workplace, to take advantage of special capabilities of the laboratory, to make possible the analysis of a single sample for several contaminants) . When method modifications are made, quality control data showing the reliability of the modified method should be obtained. ”

“ The critical elements of an effective occupational safety and health management system include management commitment and employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard prevention and control, and sufficient training for employees, supervisors, and managers (www.osha.gov/Publications/safety-health-management-systems.pdf) . In developing measures to control occupational exposure to nanomaterials, it is important to remember that processing and manufacturing involve a wide range of hazards. ”

“ The major benefit of engineering controls over administrative controls or PPE is, however, the inherent safety of the worker under a variety of conditions and stress levels. The use of engineering controls reduces the potential for worker behavior to impact exposure levels. Thus, when elimination and substitution are not viable options, the most desirable alternative for mitigating occupational hazards is to employ engineering controls. Engineering controls are likely the most effective and applicable control strategy for most nanomaterial processes. ”

“ This document discusses approaches and strategies to protect workers from potentially harmful exposures during nanomaterial manufacturing, use, and handling processes. Its purpose is to provide the best available current knowledge of how workers may be exposed and provide guidance on exposure control and evaluation. ”

“ An organized, clean workplace enables faster and easier production, improves quality control, and reduces the potential for exposure. It is important to maintain good general housekeeping practices so that leaks, spills, and other process integrity problems are readily detected and corrected. ”

“ It is intended to be used as a reference by plant managers and owners who are responsible for making decisions regarding capital allocations, as well as health and safety professionals, engineers, and industrial hygienists who are specifically charged with protecting worker health in this new and growing field. ”

“ PHAs are frequently conducted as initial risk assessments to determine whether more sophisticated analytical methods are needed and to prepare an inventory of hazards and control measures needed for these hazards. ”

“ Occupational exposure limits (OELs) are useful in reducing work-related health risks by providing a quantitative guideline and basis to assess the worker exposure potential and the performance of engineering controls and other risk management approaches. Currently, no regulatory standards for nanomaterials have been established in the United States. ”

“ Following the hierarchy normally leads to the implementation of inherently safer systems, ones where the risk of illness or injury has been substantially reduced. Designing out hazards early in the design process is a basic tenet of PtD. When PtD is implemented, the control hierarchy is applied by designers and owners/managers to include safety into the process. ”

“ By identifying the critical activities that contribute most to a worker’s exposure, sampling resources can be directed to controlling those job activities that affect exposures. Work activity variables can also be keyed into the exposure database to statistically assess the impact of work activities on exposures. The method permits researchers and safety and health professionals to capitalize on the time element of the direct-reading data by uniting the exposure measurement with the corresponding work activities. ”

“ The national norms for occupational health related to prevention and control of occupational diseases shall be formulated and published by the public health administration department under the State Council. ”

“ The State encourages research in development, popularization and employment of new technologies, new techniques and new materials which are conducive to prevention and control of occupational disease and to protection of the workers' health, and basic research in pathogenic mechanism and etiologic rules of occupational diseases with redoubled efforts, in order to raise the scientific and technical level in prevention and control of occupational diseases ”

“ In developing programmes for promoting occupational safety and health protection and prevention of accidents under Standard A4.3, each Member should have due regard to relevant codes of practice published by the International Labour Organization and the appropriate standards of international organizations. ”

“ Safety, Health and Welfare The Industrial Health Division of the Labour Department acts as an advisory service to government and industry on matters relating to the health of workers. Essentially, the work of the division is concerned with preventing occupational disease and protecting workers against health hazards in their working environment. Hazards to the health of workers are reported by the statutory notification of occupational disease, by the factory inspectorate or by officers of the division. ”

“ With regard to the workers who are exposed to, or are likely exposed to, an accident of acute occupational disease hazards, the employer shall immediately make arrangements for their rescue and treatment, for health checkups and medical observation. ”

“ These devices have been used for many years in research laboratories to protect workers from chemical and biological hazards. The design and operation of the fume hood is an important factor when considering good exposure control. Traditional designs for laboratory fume hoods create airflow patterns that form recirculation regions inside the hood. In addition, airflow around the worker, as shown in Figure 9, creates a negative pressure region downstream of the worker, which may provide a mechanism for the transport of materials out of the hood as well as into the breathing zone of the worker. ”

“ Bag in/bag out housings are specifically designed to allow for removal of a dirty air filter while minimizing worker exposure [Filtration Group Inc. 2012] . In these systems, a plastic liner is attached to a service port on the filter unit, as shown on the following page in Figure 19. When the filter is ready for replacement, the facility maintenance worker, wearing appropriate PPE, removes the filter into a liner. This process contains the filter with its contaminants so the worker is not exposed and the particulates are not resuspended in the workplace environment. ”