ABSTRACT
The occupational exposure limit has been the cornerstone of occupational hygiene risk assessment and risk management, and forms an important element of the control of occupational disease and the setting of policies on occupational health. Occupational exposure limits or exposure standards, despite criticisms, have provided valuable service to occupational hygienists and the health and safety community for several generations. Safe Work Australia’s national workplace exposure standards are available in a searchable database on the organisation’s Hazardous Chemical Information System website. Exposure standards relate to personal exposure to airborne contaminants in the worker’s breathing zone, which is defined as a hemisphere of radius 300 mm extending in front of the face, measured from the midpoint of an imaginary line joining the ears. Synergism and potentiation occur when exposure to two or more contaminants results in an adverse reaction more severe than would be expected from the sum of the individual exposures.
