In this episode Peter Aspinall, the Principal Occupational Hygiene Consultant with WSP joins us to discuss exposure standards with host Mark Reggers.

Workplace exposure standards are a set of measures established by regulatory agencies that outline the maximum allowable limit for a variety of hazards that workers can be exposed to without suffering any negative health effects. They are numerical values representing the exposure levels prescribed as an acceptable risk.

Guest Bio:

Peter Aspinall (pictured left with host Mark Reggers) has 20years’ practical experience working in Occupational Hygiene and allied health roles across Australia. A Certified Occupational Hygienist® with the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists Inc since December 2014. He is also a Full Member of the Australian Institute Occupational Hygiene (MAIOH) and Associate Member of Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI). He has assisted with annual AIOH conference committees and supports the Health Safety & Environment Division of RACI as a serving committee member.

Peter’s career includes roles spanning both consulting and client-side work, including healthcare industry, petrochemical and mining sectors. Peter has consulted on various client business health risk assessments and occupational hygiene assessment plans. Peter is also a Licensed Asbestos Assessor (LAA) and has conducted a range of assessments, from large multi-building demolition surveys through to discrete small volume sampling programs. He has also created and held asbestos awareness training presentations for workers and concerned community groups.

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In this episode, Mark & Peter discuss the following:

• What is a workplace exposure standard?
• Are workplace exposure standards called different things in different countries, or by different organisations?
• Are these standards all the same across the world?
• Who sets these limits for Occupational Hygienists to use? What do they consider in setting these levels?
• What happens if there is a substance which does not have an exposure standard?
• How does an occupational hygienist use the workplace exposure standard?
• How often should exposure monitoring be undertaken?
• Wouldn’t exposure change day to day? How does that variability get captured in the monitoring?
• For those interested in finding out more about occupational hygiene, where can they go to get more resources?

Workplace exposure standards, also known as occupational exposure limits or threshold limit values are numerical values representing the exposure levels to which workers may be repeatedly exposed to, they are measured in parts per million for chemical fumes, dBA for noise levels, or ºC for temperature. Exposure standards are not as straightforward as you may expect, there is a lot of variability and can become quite complex when you get into the depths of it. Tune in as we look at how these standards are used in the workplace and how an occupational hygienist can help to make sense of it all to minimise exposure hazards in your workplace.

Additional Resources:

• Podcast Transcript
• Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists
• New Zealand Occupational Hygiene Society
• SafeWork Australia – Workplace exposure Standards for Chemicals
• SafeWork Australia – Guidance interpretation for Workplace exposure Standards for airborne contaminants
• SafeWork Australia – Hazardous Chemical Information System
• WorkSafe NZ – Exposure Monitoring
• WorkSafe NZ – Exposure standards
• WSP Australia – Occupational Hygiene

Contact a 3M Safety Specialist at scienceofsafetyanz@mmm.com for more information.