Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Yongin University, Cheoingu, Yongin, South Korea.
Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2010 Nov;58(2):345-8. doi: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2010.08.006. Epub 2010 Aug 13.
Occupational exposure limits (OELs) are used as an important tool to protect workers from adverse chemical exposures and its detrimental effects on their health. The Ministry of Labor (MOL) can establish and publish OELs based on the Industrial Safety and Health Act in Korea. The first set of OELs was announced by the MOL in 1986. At that time, it was identical to the Threshold Limit Values of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. Until 2006, none the first OELs except for those of three chemicals (asbestos, benzene, and 2-bromopropane) were updated during the last twenty years. The Hazardous Agents Review Committee established under the MOL selected 126 chemicals from 698 chemicals covered by OELs using several criteria. From 2005 to 2006, the MOL provided research funds for academic institutions and toxicological laboratories to gather the evidence documenting the need to revise the outdated OELs. Finally, the MOL notified the revised OELs for 126 chemicals from 2007 to 2008. The revised OELs of 58 substances from among these chemicals were lowered to equal or less than half the value of the original OELs. This is the most substantial change in the history of OEL revisions in Korea.
职业接触限值（OELs）被用作保护工人免受不良化学暴露及其对健康的有害影响的重要工具。韩国劳动部（MOL）可以根据《工业安全与健康法》制定和公布 OELs。第一套 OELs 是 MOL 于 1986 年公布的。当时，它与美国政府工业卫生学家会议的阈限值相同。直到 2006 年，在过去的二十年中，除了三种化学物质（石棉、苯和 2-溴丙烷）的最初 OELs 外，没有任何其他 OELs 更新。MOL 下设的危险物质审查委员会根据若干标准从 OELs 涵盖的 698 种化学物质中选择了 126 种化学物质。2005 年至 2006 年，MOL 为学术机构和毒理学实验室提供研究资金，以收集证明需要修订过时 OELs 的证据。最后，MOL 从 2007 年到 2008 年通知了修订后的 126 种化学物质的 OELs。其中 58 种物质的修订 OELs 降低到与原始 OELs 值相等或不到一半。这是韩国 OEL 修订史上最大的一次变化。
