• Project number: F 2568
• Institution: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
• Status: Ongoing Project
• Planned end: 2026-12-31

Description:

Guidance documents recommend a tiered approach for the assessment of occupational exposure to hazardous substances. Under this approach, relatively simple exposure assessments are conducted first, before further, more complex assessments are carried out if required. The first tier is intended to identify, with as little effort as possible, tasks involving contact with hazardous substances in the workplace that could be associated with relevant risks to employees’ safety and health. These tasks require a second tier evaluation. As a result, protective measures may need to be implemented at the workplace. To date the tiered approach has rarely been reflected in workplace exposure assessment software products.

The ongoing BAuA project F 2493 is currently developing a web-based platform that will allow exposure models to be made easily accessible to companies including a user-friendly design. It is envisaged that the first version of this “toolbox” will offer six models for the estimation of inhalation exposure when hazardous substances are handled in the workplace and three models for the estimation of dermal exposure.

This project will serve to further optimise and expand the toolbox while it is still in its development phase. For this purpose, the models currently being included on the web-based platform will be integrated into a tiered approach, which will be evaluated on the basis of test data and checked for consistency. Discrepancies due to models’ overlapping areas of application will be identified and minimised as far as possible or documented transparently. The newly developed tiered approach will offer an optimal user experience and enhance users’ trust in the toolbox.