Control banding is a generic technique used to guide the assessment and management of workplace risks for chemicals without an occupational exposure limit (OEL). The majority of chemicals in commercial use do not have an established OEL. OELs include NIOSH Recommended Exposure Limits (RELs) and OSHA Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs). OELs help to assess and manage chemical risks in the workplace. Repeated daily workplace exposure to a chemical by inhaling it at an airborne concentration below its OEL is unlikely to lead to harmful health effects in most workers. However, many thousands of chemicals are in use, and no OEL exists for every chemical, chemical mixture, fume, or emission.
Workplace risks are grouped into control categories or “bands” based on a combination of
- hazard and
- exposure information
A “band of hazards might be skin/eye irritant, very toxic, or carcinogenic, among others. The potential for exposure (low, medium, high) is also considered. Users have a proposed control measure to implement at the end of the control banding process. This could be
- dilution ventilation,
- engineering controls, or containment, or
- some other hazard control
It is an approach that is based on two pillars:
1) there are a limited number of control approaches, and
2) many problems have been met and solved before.
Control banding uses the solutions that experts have developed previously to control occupational chemical exposures, and suggests applying them to other tasks with similar exposure situations. It is an approach that focuses resources on exposure controls and describes how strictly a risk needs to be managed. NIOSH considers control banding to be a potentially useful tool for small businesses.
CLICK HERE for the page