Brooke I M
Health & Safety Executive Bootle, Merseyside, U.K.
Ann Occup Hyg. 1998 Aug;42(6):377-90. doi: 10.1016/s0003-4878(98)00050-7.
The UK has developed a simple scheme to provide practical control advice to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to assist them in their risk assessments and risk management decisions. This scheme makes use of toxicological hazard information indicated by R-phrases assigned under the European Union (EU) classification system, to assign substances to hazard bands. In the UK scheme, the allocation of substances to hazard bands according to R-phrases has taken into account three key factors: whether or not the toxicological endpoint has an identifiable dose threshold; the seriousness of the resultant health effect; and the relative exposure levels at which toxic effects occur. Based on all these considerations, R-phrases have been allocated to hazard bands within the scheme. An evaluation exercise has been undertaken, to compare the output of the scheme with established health-based occupational exposure limits, for more than 100 substances. The results of this exercise demonstrate that as far as possible, the scheme recommends control strategies which should provide adequate control. This scheme is potentially a very powerful means of helping SMEs adequately control chemical health risks in the workplace. Since it utilises the EU-agreed classification system, the scheme can be applied to any substance supplied and used in the workplace and it may also be used internationally.
英国制定了一项简单的计划，为中小企业提供实际的控制建议，以协助它们进行风险评估和风险管理决策。该计划利用欧盟分类系统下指定的R短语所表明的毒理学危害信息，将物质分配到危害等级。在英国的计划中，根据R短语将物质分配到危害等级时考虑了三个关键因素：毒理学终点是否有可识别的剂量阈值；所产生健康影响的严重性；以及产生毒性作用的相对暴露水平。基于所有这些考虑，R短语已在该计划内被分配到危害等级。已经进行了一项评估工作，将该计划的输出结果与100多种物质既定的基于健康的职业接触限值进行比较。这项工作的结果表明，该计划尽可能推荐应能提供充分控制的控制策略。该计划可能是帮助中小企业在工作场所充分控制化学健康风险的一种非常有效的手段。由于它采用了欧盟商定的分类系统，该计划可应用于工作场所供应和使用的任何物质，并且也可在国际上使用。
