Methylene Chloride Exposure Limits

A compliance guide published recently by EPA outlines major provisions of the agency’s new risk management rule for methylene chloride, which went into effect in July. The rule includes a workplace chemical protection program that aims to help protect workers who are potentially exposed to the chemical during allowed uses. The compliance guide focuses in part on the program’s inhalation exposure limits, which include an EPA existing chemical exposure limit (ECEL), an EPA short-term exposure limit (STEL), and an ECEL action level. The agency describes the EPA ECEL as “an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) regulatory OEL” and explains that the ECEL action level “identifies a level at which certain compliance activities would need to be taken.” Select information about these and other exposure limits for methylene chloride appears below. To learn more, see NewsWatch.