Science and Policy in Occupational Standard Setting
This paper is a report from an on-going
study of the setting of occupational exposure levels (OELs) for chemicals in
Sweden.
Background
The Swedish OELs are issued by the
National Board of Occupational Safety and Health. The first list, that was
published in 1969, was almost entirely based on the TLVs (threshold limit
values) of the ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental Industrial
Hygienists). A second list was issued in 1974 and took effect in 1975. No
documentation for these two lists was published. Partly in response to criticism
for the lack of documentation, a new procedure for the determination of OELs was
introduced in 1978. Since then, two working groups are involved in the process:
the Criteria Group and the Regulations Group.
The Criteria Group consists of
scientists in the relevant fields. Its task is to gather and evaluate the
available scientific and medical information on substances that the Regulations
Group selects for their consideration. Its findings are summarized in consensus
reports of 5-15 pages, that are published in both English and Swedish. Many of
these reports are based on much longer and more detailed criteria documents,
some of which have been commissioned by the Criteria Group itself The Criteria
Group bases its conclusions on the evidence available in the scientific
literature. It does not have resources for commissioning new epidemiological or
experimental studies.
Whenever possible, the Criteria Group
identifies a critical effect and reports a dose-response relationship. It does not
propose an OEL. Instead, this is done by the Regulations Group, making use of
the information from the Criteria Group and of information on technological and
economical feasibility.
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