National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Technical University of Denmark, Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Lyngby, Denmark.
Ann Work Expo Health. 2020 Jun 24;64(5):479-489. doi: 10.1093/annweh/wxaa022.
Work and research with nanomaterials (NMs) has primarily focused on innovation, toxicity, governance, safety management tools, and public perceptions. The aim of this study was to identify academia and industry occupational safety and health (OSH) managers' perceptions and handling of NMs, in relation to safety culture.
Semistructured interviews were carried out with OSH managers at six academic institutions and six industrial companies. The interview statements were coded into five topics regarding NMs: risk comprehension, information gathering, actions, communication, and compliance. The statements were then coded according to a five-step safety culture maturity model reflecting increasing occupational safety maturity from passive, to reactive, active, proactive, and exemplary occupational safety.
The safety culture maturity of the academic institutions were primarily active and proactive, whereas the industry group were primarily active and reactive. None of the statements were rated as exemplary, with the majority reflecting an active safety culture. The topics varied from a passive approach of having no focus on NMs and regarding risks as a part of the job, to applying proactive measures in the design, production, application, and waste management phases. Communication and introduction to OSH issues regarding NMs as well as compliance provided challenges in both academia and industry, given the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity of students/staff and employees. Workplace leaders played a crucial role in establishing a legitimate approach to working safely with NMs, however, the currently available OSH information for NMs were described as insufficient, impractical, and inaccessible. There was an embedded problem in solely relying on safety data sheets, which were often not nanospecific, as this may have led to underprotection.
There is a need for more structured, up-to-date, easily accessible, and user-friendly tools and information regarding toxicity and threshold limit values, relevant OSH promotion information, legislation, and other rules. The study underscores the need for politicians and engineers to collaborate with communication experts and both natural and social scientists in effectively framing information on NMs. Such a collaboration should allow for flexible deployment of multilevel and integrated safety culture initiatives to support sustainable nanotechnology and operational excellence.
纳米材料（NMs）的工作和研究主要集中在创新、毒性、治理、安全管理工具和公众认知上。本研究旨在确定学术界和工业界职业安全与健康（OSH）管理人员对 NMs 的认知和处理，以及与安全文化的关系。
对六所学术机构和六家工业公司的 OSH 管理人员进行了半结构化访谈。将访谈语句编码为五个与 NMs 相关的主题：风险理解、信息收集、行动、沟通和合规。然后，根据一个五步安全文化成熟度模型对语句进行编码，该模型反映了从被动、反应、主动、积极到模范职业安全的职业安全成熟度的逐步提高。
学术机构的安全文化成熟度主要是积极和主动的，而工业组则主要是积极和反应的。没有一个陈述被评为模范，大多数陈述反映了积极的安全文化。这些主题从没有关注 NMs 的被动方法，将风险视为工作的一部分，到在设计、生产、应用和废物管理阶段采取积极措施，各不相同。学术界和工业界都面临着关于 NMs 的沟通和介绍 OSH 问题以及合规性方面的挑战，因为学生/员工和员工的文化和语言多样性不断增加。工作场所的领导者在建立安全使用 NMs 的合法方法方面发挥了至关重要的作用，然而，目前关于 NMs 的 OSH 信息被描述为不足、不切实际和无法获得。仅依赖安全数据表存在一个固有的问题，因为数据表通常不是纳米特异性的，这可能导致保护不足。
需要更具结构性、最新、易于获取和用户友好的工具和信息，包括毒性和阈限值、相关 OSH 促进信息、法规和其他规则。该研究强调了政治家和工程师需要与沟通专家以及自然和社会科学家合作，有效地构建关于 NMs 的信息。这种合作应该允许灵活部署多层次和综合的安全文化举措，以支持可持续的纳米技术和卓越运营。
