Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

Safety

Database Tracks Chemical Exposures On The Job

by Glenn Hess
June 8, 2015 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 93, Issue 23

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) has unveiled a website that displays 30 years of Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) chemical exposure readings from inspections back to 1984. The advocacy group says the database allows workplace exposure data to be searched by year, by state, by establishment type, and by substances detected. Individual inspection data may also be viewed. In addition to showing workers what substances they encountered on the job, PEER says the resource should help guide OSHA in improving safeguards for worker health. “More Americans die each year from workplace chemical exposure than from all highway accidents, yet we have no national effort to stem this silent occupational epidemic,” says PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. The group recommends that OSHA begin using its own air-sampling data to pinpoint where health inspections are most needed and increase the number of those inspections. PEER also says the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health should conduct a new survey of occupational exposures.

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.