Criteria and standards for occupational exposures to airborne chemicals.

Prevention of occupational exposures to chemicals at levels that can cause illness or disease depends upon having exposure limits, methods for measuring exposures, and means for limiting exposures to levels within the established limits. The development and applications of exposure standards (that is, legal limits, and other guidelines used as professional practice criteria in the U.S. and Europe) are reviewed and discussed. Biological exposure indices, which can be used to supplement direct measurements of exposures, are also discussed.