AUTHOR=Aachimi Abir , Marc Florian , Bonvallot Nathalie , Clerc Frederic 

TITLE=A control banding method for chemical risk assessment in occupational settings in France

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1282668

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2023.1282668

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Abstract: (1) Background : This paper describes a method whose aim is to help companies to assess the chemical occupational risks related to labeled products and industrial chemical emissions. The method is intended to be used by industrial hygienists at the scale of one company. Both inhalation and cutaneous exposure routes are taken into account. (2) Methods: The method relies on a control-banding scheme. A work situation is described by exposure parameters such as the process or the local exhaust ventilation and by the hazard of the product. Each possible value of the parameters is associated with a “band”, which is associated to an integer value. The multiplication of these values results in a score, which represents a priority for intervention. The higher the score, the more the situation warrants investigation for implementing prevention measures (such as chemical substitution, addition of a local exhaust ventilation, etc.). To simplify communication, the priority is associated with a colored  priority band: red for “very high priority”, orange for “high priority” and green for “moderate priority”. The priority bands are computed for all work situations performed in a company. (3) Results: An example of use of this method is described in a French facade insulation company. (4) Conclusions: A tool named Seirich was developed to implement this method and promote good practices for helping industrial hygienists in the prioritization of interventions for reducing chemical risk in France.