Occupational exposure assessment is used to evaluate various exposures incurred by workers in the occupational environment, including issues related to selection, use, and disposal of substances, as well as production processes and the products themselves. Occupational exposure assessment also involves evaluation of protective measures for workers, and evaluation of deficiencies and improvements in these systems to ensure worker health.
To conduct an occupational exposure assessment requires combining multiple disciplines:
- Industrial Hygiene – The science of hazard evaluation, qualification, and quantification
- Toxicology – The assessment of risk and the probability of adverse effect resulting from the absorption of a range of dose concentrations by a target organism (usually a specific animal species) over time
- Epidemiology – The study of the range of effects expressed within a human population resulting from the intake of a particular hazard (specific chemical, physical, microbiological, or radiological) over time to best define disease causation
Exponent’s Health Sciences and Engineering staff identify comprehensive solutions to client problems associated with the occupational environment. Our scientists and engineers identify and thoroughly evaluate a hazard as it exists or existed within a given environment, to assess the likelihood ofthe hazard migrating from the occupational environment to a given receptor or human population. Such evaluations include determining the chemical concentration, exposure duration, and frequency of occurrence that would be necessary to elicit the damage or adverse health effect alleged. Our scientists also employ methods such as exposure simulation and dose reconstruction to re-create historical exposures to chemicals that may have occurred, when such exposures pre-date accurate measurements of chemical concentrations in the occupational environment. Exponent’s scientists have also aided regulatory agencies in developing health-based protective limits in occupational settings and setting occupational exposure limits.
Exponent’s exposure evaluators have conducted a variety of occupational exposure assessments on chemicals, including:
- Metals and metaloids
- Asbestos
- Benzene and other solvents
- Nanoparticles
- Non-ionizing radiation
- Silica
- Ultrafine particles