248208 Development and Application of the Comprehensive List of Hazardous Chemicals (CLHC)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Boris Kukovitskiy, PhD , Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
The most serious worker safety concern, according to a number of experts, is addressing thousands of chemicals for which there are no Permissible Exposure Limits (PEL) or the limits are dangerously out-of-date. Despite of OSHA's great efforts in the new PEL establishment, this procedure takes years and serious investments for every single standard. Analysis of EU's and the number of high developed countries' experience demonstrated that application of consensus standards along with regulatory standards could be efficient in some cases. However, even consensus standards don't cover most of the chemicals, which are suspected to be harmful to workers and include over 2,000 extremely dangerous substances. To create an efficient tool for the worker health protection, development of a Comprehensive List of Hazardous Chemicals (CLHC) was suggested. The most trustful information sources for this List were investigated. The content, organization, areas of application, and benefits of this List were discussed and this presentation will include examples of the CLHC structure. Because this List is supposed to be used by employees, unions, employers, enforcement agencies, and general public, its content should be as simple as possible and understandable for a broad spectrum of readers with very different backgrounds. The specific ways of the List applications for compliance officers and safety consultants were suggested.

Learning Areas:
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
1. Analyze hazardous chemical regulation issues. 2. Identify the benefits of Comprehensive List of Hazardous Chemical (CLHC) development for worker health and safety protection. 3. Discuss the CLHC structure, sources of information, and specific areas of its applications.

Keywords: Occupational Exposure, Occupational Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I perform safety and health inspections as a Compliance Officer and have Ph.D. degree in chemical sciences.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.