Based on the information provided by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology in March 2020, we have already received answers to some questions regarding the exposure register for hazardous substances.

We are now receiving answers to the following based on the opinion of the Department of Labor Protection of the Ministry:  

• Should the exposure record be kept at the job level or for all affected employees?
• How to record the exposure time?

If a very small amount of the hazardous substance or hazardous mixture is used for a short period of time, the measured data of the exposure concentration must be provided, is measurement necessary?

Should the exposure record be kept at the job level or for all affected employees?

From a professional and legal point of view, the position that previously only exposed workers had to be defined at the job level is incorrect.

Based on the previous regulations, the exposure register had to be kept broken down by employee and not at the job level.

It often happens that, in addition to their job duties, the employer entrusts employees with activities that also involve exposure to hazardous substances, resulting in additional exposure (e.g. cleaning workplaces where the dust of hazardous substances or mixtures can contaminate the work environment).

Keeping the exposure register is not only a legal obligation, but also the employer's

interest as well, because it is possible to monitor the development of workers' exposure to hazardous substances at the workplace. With the data recorded in the register can be identified as given

which hazardous substance(s) the employee is or may be exposed to, and the level, nature and duration of the exposure can be checked and evaluated.

With the available data hazardous substances for which biological monitoring is mandatory or recommended can be identified, which can be used to filter out cases of increased exposure before an occupational disease develops.

How to record the exposure time?

According to § 3. point 11 of the ITM regulation exposure time "the daily, weekly and annual duration spent by the employee in the workplace contaminated with the chemical substance expressed in hours, days and weeks", that is why there is Mvt. 63/A. Section (2) point c) of the employee's obligation to register the daily, weekly and annual exposure time, in accordance with Mvt. 63/B. § (2) point c) (carcinogenic/mutagenic substances).

This does not mean that the exposure time must be recorded daily, but according to § 5 of the ITM regulation must be established or estimated during a risk analysisthat the employee on a working day, in a week and in one year how long in total they can be exposed to the hazardous substance. Taking into account the results of the risk analysis, the data to be recorded in the register must be included.

Duration of exposure "hour/day"-in, "hour/week"-in or even "hours/year"-must be recorded depending on the temporal nature of the exposure (e.g. continuous, intermittent, periodically repeated, occasional), from which the weekly and annual exposure time can be identified.

If a very small amount of the hazardous substance or hazardous mixture is used for a short period of time, the measured data of the exposure concentration must be provided, is measurement necessary?

 Mvt. 63/A. § (2) point d), "measured exposure concentration data'to

relevant registration obligation only a hazardous substances regulated by limits

regarding, in case of exposure measurement exists. (If there is no measured data, because there is no case of mandatory measurement, there is nothing to record.)

In the case of dangerous substances regulated by limit values the obligation related to exposure measurements can be found in Section 54 (2) of the Mvt. and Section 11 (4) of the ITM Decree:

– "During the risk assessment, the pathological factor regulated by the health protection limit value

in case of occurrence, work hygiene tests must be used to determine the degree of exposure.

– If the employee may be exposed to a hazardous substance regulated by a limit value, the employer is obliged to determine the concentration of hazardous substances as part of the monitoring of the working environment, with a frequency that depends on the degree of exposure, the dangerousness of the material and materials and the stability of the technology, and it is determined in accordance with the MSZ EN 689:2018 standard according to or at least in an equivalent way to be continuously checked." 

According to Section 3.9 of the ITM Regulation: "the exposure assessment: the activity that includes the measurement of the exposure or, in the absence of measurement, the estimated mass of the presumably "escaped" material resulting from the likely dilution in the workplace

airspace concentration estimation".

During the risk assessment to be carried out in the framework of the chemical risk analysis according to § 5 of the ITM Regulation - in the framework of occupational health, with the involvement of the occupational health service - the employer must be informed of the dangerousness of the substance(s), the exposure conditions, the expected degree of exposure, the exposure time and the stability of the technology depending on which substances, instrumental measurements must be carried out or whether the air-space concentration estimation is sufficient. During the risk analysis, the contents of the safety data sheet of the hazardous substance or hazardous mixture used in the workplace must be taken into account, Articles 1-6 of the ITM Regulation. the limit values specified in its annex no., the requirements of the MSZ EN 689:2018+AC:2019 standard, as well as the data of the tests (e.g. biological monitoring) already carried out by the occupational health services.

Based on the above, in the case of a hazardous substance regulated by a limit value exposure measurement can only be dispensed with if based on the result of the airspace concentration estimation

it can be clearly established that:

– the expected level of exposure is much lower than the permissible limit value in workplace air, and

– degree of risk ("estimated size") - taking into account the nature of the risk, it

frequency and duration of exposure – at a level that cannot endanger the health or safety of employees.

 The exposure register must be updated, if by the employer with a previously unused hazardous substance activity takes place, or a in activity it's like that changes occurred, which makes it necessary to review and update the chemical risk analysis.

Source: ommf.gov.hu

Image source: Photo by Louis Reed you Unsplash