NEWSWATCH​
HAZARD RECOGNITION AND EVALUATION
NIOSH Requests Review of Its Occupational Exposure Banding Process
NIOSH recently published a new draft Current Intelligence Bulletin (CIB) outlining the agency’s occupational exposure banding process, which is intended to help occupational health and safety professionals and others make timely, well-informed risk management decisions about chemicals that lack occupational exposure limits. Occupational exposure banding is a method for assigning chemicals into categories based on their potency and associated health outcomes. The new draft CIB,
The NIOSH Occupational Exposure Banding Process: Guidance for the Evaluation of Chemical Hazards
, describes the process and summarizes NIOSH efforts to evaluate its effectiveness and usability. Individuals can download the draft CIB from the docket folder on
Regulations.gov
.
NIOSH seeks feedback on the draft document from scientists and representatives of government agencies, industry, labor, and other stakeholders. The authors urge commenters to place special emphasis on the technical review of certain issues, including chemicals that can cause an immediate effect; skin toxicants that are corrosive, an irritant, or a sensitizer; the process for assessing whether enough information is available to conduct occupational exposure banding; and how the agency should consider data collected on structural analogs or related chemicals in the banding scheme.
Review comments are due by June 13, 2017. More information is available via the
Federal Register
.
NIOSH issues CIBs to disseminate new scientific information about occupational hazards. Previous CIBs can be found on the agency’s
website
.