Recent news

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), theFederal Ministry of Environment, the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) and BASF are initiating a five million EURO project to explore possible long-term effects of nanoparticles. The studies are designed for four years and are based on the test specifications of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). The aim of this study is to enable informed statements about the long-term effect of various commonly used nanomaterials.
 

The next three years, scientists at the new Danish Centre for Nano Safety will explore how to best protect workers and to improve risk assessment of nanoparticles at the workplace. The center is headed by Professor Ulla Vogel from the National Institute of Occupational Health. The Working Environment Research Fund supports the centre with 30 million Danish crowns.
 

On 24 May, the SUBSPORT portal will be officially launched, and its case story database will be made public online. The case story database is an interactive tool to search for practical real-case substitution examples provided by companies and other stakeholders as well as examples and information on substitution options found in literature. The official launch of SUBSPORT will be held as a free of charge side event at the Helsinki Chemicals Forum (www.helsinkicf.eu) on 24 May 17.00-18.00, at the Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre, Helsinki, Finland.

First results of the SUMER survey were just published, with an analysis of the trends between 1994 and 2010, covering three rounds of surveys.
Some issues highlighted:
Organisational and psychosocial work factors: The reduction in autonomy together with increasing pace constraints and increasing mental load, leads to a considerably higher proportion of workers reporting to be on “job strain”.

Interested parties are invited to join the public consultation by posting their comments on the ECHA website. The public consultation will be open for 45 days and will end on 12 April 2012.

All substances are classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction and appear to fulfil Article 57 of the REACH Regulation, defining the identification of an SVHC.

The aim of the seminar, which was held on the 29 November 2011 in Brussels, was to stimulate awareness on the nanomaterials issue, promote activities to ensure the protection of workers and facilitate the exchange of information and collaboration between Member States.

Eight more substances of very high concern have been added to the REACH Authorisation list, following a Decision adopted by the European Commission on 14 February 2012 and published today in the Official Journal of the European Union. These eight chemicals, which are all carcinogenic and/or toxic for reproduction, are diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), diarsenic trioxide, diarsenic pentaoxide, lead chromate, lead sulfochromate yellow (C.I. Pigment Yellow 34), lead chromate molybdate sulphate red (C.I. Pigment Red 104), tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT).

The social partners in the transport and logistics sector launched an information campaign, on 30 November 2011, to raise awareness about the hazards of exposure to toxic gases among workers in contact with goods containers. When containers are opened, workers can be exposed to toxic gases in two different cases: when the goods transported have been treated with a gas or solid substance to prevent rotting or to control vermin, and when goods contain substances, such as glues or paints, that can release toxic substances.

In 2005, the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL), an advisory committee of the European Committee, published an evaluation on the toxicity of methyl methacrylate. At request of the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, the Dutch Expert Committee on Occupational Safety (DECOS) of the Health Council, reconsidered the former health-based occupational exposure limit for methyl methacrylate, based on the SCOEL assessment, and additional studies published since 2005, and up to October 2011.

Organizations in the Québec prevention network are regularly involved in companies in order to collect samples by which the IRSST’s laboratories can evaluate the air quality. The results of these analyses, for the years 2001 to 2008, have been published annually, and the reports produced have identified several situations of high potential concentrations in the large industrial groups.