WHAT'S NEW

The OECD releases a Guidance Document on Occupational Biomonitoring. This is the final product of the OECD Occupational Biomonitoring Project that (i) presents current approaches used to derive biomonitoring values and (ii) provides globally harmonised recommendations on how-to derive and apply occupational biomonitoring assessment values. This guidance document is relevant for Occupational Health Professionals (OHP*) and occupational safety and health (OSH*) specialists, regulatory authorities, chemical industries, researchers, as well as stakeholders interested in addressing occupational and general population biomonitoring.

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE OECD OCCUPATIONAL BIOMONITORING PROJECT

Biomonitoring is of relevance for several OECD member and partner countries as a measure of internal exposure or effect. It is especially efficient in assessing exposures from multiple routes, i.e. inhalation, oral and dermal exposure pathways. This project is focused on improving methods for deriving health-based human biomarker values (BMGV, BLV, DNEL_biomarker). Such biomarker values can be used to interpret measured levels of biomarkers in a risk assessment context. During this project, the term OBL (Occupational Biomonitoring Level) was chosen and is used below in a general way, without having the intention to replace other existing limits - or guidance values.

Biomonitoring requires little field equipment and can be an inexpensive method in monitoring workers' exposures compared to ambient air monitoring or dermal exposure monitoring. This is of global interest for workplace safety. This project aims to provide harmonised guidance for:

• deriving health-based human biomarker guidance or limit values; and
• using biomonitoring in exposure assessment and risk management.

 

THE AIMS OF THE OECD OCCUPATIONAL BIOMONITORING PROJECT

1. Compare existing methods in deriving OBL (Occupational Biomonitoring Level) for selected substances of high concern, including European Substances of High Concern (SVHC) candidate substances.
2. Identify data gaps and future research needs with regard to regulatory use of biomarkers of exposure data.
3. Propose quality criteria and minimum requirements for OBLs, provisional OBLs and monitoring, including toxicokinetic data, providing discussion of variance and uncertainty and procedural aspects of quality management.
4. Building upon these cases as well as available current guidance, to elaborate concrete general tiered guidance on the derivation of OBL with respect to accepted points of departure in risk assessment.
5. Propose different OBL derivation methods for screening purposes and for more advanced regulatory risk assessment contexts.
6. Recommend general biomonitoring options in occupational settings taking into account cost-effectiveness and various risk management options.
7. Provide an outlook for the use of effect-based biomarker monitoring for substances or substance groups with a relevant mode of action.  A short comparison of analytical and effect-based costs is intended. The results of this can be useful for addressing co-exposures and relevant mixture effects in the future.

 

PARTICIPATING INSTITUTES AND ORGANISATIONS

This project is being led by Belgium, Finland, Germany and Switzerland with the participation of 38 institutes/organisations on the expert group and overseen by the OECD Working Party on Hazard Assessment and the Working Party on Exposure Assessment. 

 

Further reading

• Programme on Hazard Assessment
• Programme on Exposure Assessment

 

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