1 Scope
This Technical Report provides general considerations for the assessment of dermal exposure in workplaces. It offers guidance on dermal exposure assessment and the commonly used approaches for measuring dermal exposure[4][5]. An understanding of the advantages and limitations of each approach assists in the selection of the appropriate method(s) to meet the assessment objective. This Technical Report, however, is not intended to provide expert guidance, such as in the case of exposure scenarios or chemical agents.
This Technical Report is intended to assist occupational hygiene practitioners and researchers in developing a dermal exposure assessment strategy in agreement with its intended purpose. More importantly, it promotes adaptation of a consistent approach to assessing dermal exposure, and provides a framework for the assessment and validation of method performance.
This Technical Report describes the requirements against which sampling methods for determining dermal exposure need to be assessed; methodologies and specifications are proposed for the following procedures (not all requirements may be applicable to all methods):
-
a) sampling efficiency;
-
b) recovery efficiency;
-
c) sample stability;
-
d) capacity;
-
e) bias, precision, uncertainty;
-
f) core information;
-
g) contextual information.
NOTE 1 Core information is descriptive of measuring procedures, including the purpose of the assessment, sampling strategy, and sampling and analytical methods (see Clause 7). Method-specific core information is further refined within Annexes B to F (e.g. B.4.5 specifies the collection substrate, such as the fabric type, thickness, sizes, and backing materials).
NOTE 2 Contextual information is descriptive of the locations in which samples are collected, the exposure situation, the worker(s), the environment and the exposure agent (see Clause 7).