July 17, 2006—The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has released its first two-tier Under Study list pursuant to changes made to its TLV/BEI Development Process earlier this year.
ACGIH’s Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) and Biological Exposure Indices (BEIs) are guidelines (not standards), based solely on health factors, that are designed to help industrial hygienists make decisions regarding safe levels of exposure to various chemical substances and physical agents found in the workplace.
In 2006, ACGIH began providing additional information on the status of chemical substances and physical agents that are on the Under Study list. In addition to the practice of publishing an updated Under Study list on the ACGIH Web site, in the ACGIH Annual Reports by February 1 of each year, and in the annual TLVs and BEIs book, the Under Study list will be updated annually by July 31 and presented in a two-tier list.
One tier will indicate which chemical substances and physical agents may move forward as an NIC (Notice of Intended Changes) or NIE (Notice of Intent to Establish) in the upcoming year, based on their status in the development process. The second tier will consist of those chemical substances and physical agents that will not move forward, but will either remain on or be removed from the Under Study list for the next year.
This process change is designed to provide the public with new information of significant relevance regarding the development status of a substance or agent. The updated list will remain as a two-tier list for the balance of the year.
To view the 2006 two-tier list, visit the ACGIH Under Study Web page.
