Documents compliance with exposure limits 8 results

"Following passage of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, underground coal mine operators were required to take air samples in order to monitor compliance with the exposure limit for respirable dust, a task essential for the prevention of pneumoconiosis among coal workers. Miners objected, claiming that having the mine operators perform this task was like "having the fox guard the chicken coop." This article is a historical narrative of mining industry corruption and of efforts to reform the program of monitoring exposure to coal mine dust. Several important themes common to the practice of occupational health are illustrated; most prominently, that employers should not be expected to regulate themselves."

"L'article a pour objectif de faire le point sur le niveau des expositions des travailleurs employés en France à des tâches d'enlèvement d'amiante, et en particulier de comparer ces expositions à la valeur limite de 0,1 f. cm-3. L'étude a été entamée avant les profondes modifications qu'a connues la législation française en 1996, d'où un nombre plus important d'expérimentations effectuées sur des sites où la ventilation assistée était utilisée plutôt que sur des sites où c'est le choix de l'adduction d'air qui avait été effectué.
Huit chantiers d'enlèvement d'amiante ont ainsi été étudiés : - sur cinq d'entre eux les travailleurs étaient équipés de masques à ventilation assistée ; - les trois derniers mettaient en oeuvre une alimentation du masque ou de la cagoule par adduction d'air (avec compresseur).
Les résultats des échantillonnages montrent la nécessité de réaliser des progrès dans plusieurs domaines afin d'éviter l'exposition aléatoire des travailleurs à des concentrations excessives d'amiante sans qu'ils s'en rendent compte.
Ce sont les domaines suivants :
- analyse des risques des chantiers, - conception des installations destinées à assurer l'étanchéité du chantier, - réduction maximum des émissions de poussières (et de fibres), - techniques de travail employées sur le chantier, - conception des équipements de protection individuelle, - information et formation des travailleurs."

"The use of asbestos has been banned in Australia since 2003. However, as a result of the widespread use of asbestos in the past, there remains a large amount of asbestos containing materials (ACMs) in older buildings. These ACMs include asbestos cement sheet walls, asbestos cement pipes and asbestos containing electrical switchboards. Construction and maintenance workers are likely to be involved in work tasks that may disturb ACMs. Therefore, there is a substantial risk of potential exposure to asbestos in these workers unless occupational health and safety (OHS) requirements on the management and control of asbestos are followed. To date, little research has been undertaken on these tradespersons and their awareness and compliance with OHS regulations relating to asbestos.
The aims of the current study were to determine in construction and maintenance workers:
• current levels of awareness of the risk of exposure to asbestos
• current levels of compliance with OHS legislative requirements for working with ACMs
• key perceptions, attitudes and motivations that act as barriers and enablers to compliance, and
• current level of exposure to asbestos in selected construction and maintenance work activities.
This study was conducted in five stages: 1) literature review; 2) focus groups with workers, employer organisations, unions and OHS authorities; 3) telephone survey of workers; 4) face-to-face interviews; and 5) atmospheric sampling. Four trades were selected as target occupations for this study: electricians, plumbers, carpenters and painters. "

"Objective
To evaluate the performance of three measurement strategies to test compliance with occupational exposure limits of similarly exposed groups (SEGs): the old and new versions of EN689, and the BOHS-NVvA guidance on measuring compliance.
Methods
Respirable dust exposures concentrations (n = 1383) measured within the member companies of IMA-Europe were used to compare compliance decisions between the three measurement strategies. A total of 210 SEGs of which 158 with repeated measurements were analysed. An R studio OHcomplianceStrategies package was created for the purpose.
Results
The old EN689 strategy resulted in the highest number of compliant SEGs in the preliminary tests and statistical test (49–52% and 83%) with lower percentages of compliance with the new EN689 standard (32–44% and 71%). The percentage of non-compliant SEGs was relatively similar between the old and new EN689 for the preliminary tests (1–12% versus 6–11%). However, the new EN689 declared almost twofold more SEGs non-compliant when applying the statistical test (29% versus 17%). The BOHS-NVvA individual test showed results in between the 26% non-compliant SEGs.
Conclusion
This study showed differences in compliance decisions between the old and new EN689, with the new EN689 being considerably more stringent and resulting in more non-compliant SEGs."