The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) is a professional association of industrial hygienists and practitioners of related professions, with headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. One of its goals is to advance worker protection by providing timely, objective, scientific information to occupational and environmental health professionals.[1]
The National Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (NCGIH)[2][3] convened on June 27, 1938, in Washington, D.C. NCGIH's original constitution limited full membership to two representatives from each governmental industrial hygiene agency. Associate membership was made available to other professional personnel of the agencies holding full memberships, and also to personnel of educational institutions engaged in teaching industrial hygiene. Governmental industrial hygiene personnel of other countries were eligible for affiliated membership.
The Conference came into being with 59 members, one affiliated member, and 16 associate members. Forty-three members, one associate and six guests, attended the initial Conference. All but five of the members were from health departments. The New York and Massachusetts state labor departments each had two present, and one from the West Virginia state compensation commission.
At the end of World War II, many individuals were leaving governmental employment and membership in the Conference declined from the peak of 281 in 1944 to 235 in 1946. Changes due to the transition to a peacetime economy, the development of other professional associations, and changes in the technical and administrative needs of state and local agencies, required the Conference to revise its constitution and make some major changes in its organizational structure.
The 1946 constitution revisions abandoned the concept of limiting full membership to only two individuals from each governmental industrial hygiene agency. This opened the doors to all of their professional personnel to participate in the activities of the organization on an equal basis. Governmental industrial hygiene personnel from foreign countries were also given the right to full membership. These changes, among others, were to have a salutary effect on the organization which, in 1946, changed its name to the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH).
In the mid-1950s, steady growth in membership resumed and by 1960 there were 511 members, including 54 from other countries. During the next decade these numbers more than doubled and in 1977 the total reached 1,800, of which 166 were from outside the United States.
For over 75 years, ACGIH has been dedicated to the industrial hygiene and occupational and environmental health and safety communities. They have grown and expanded without losing sight of their original goal - to encourage the interchange of experience among industrial hygiene workers and to collect and make accessible such information and data as might be of aid to them in the proper fulfillment of their duties. This original goal is reflected in both their current mission - the advancement of occupational and environmental health - and in their tagline: Defining the Science of Occupational and Environmental Health.
This scientific information is provided to members and others in the industry through our journal, professional conferences and seminars, as well as through a vast list of technical and scientific publications, including the TLVs and BEIsArchived 2016-01-18 at the Wayback Machine book.
Presently, nine ACGIH committees focus their energies on a range of topics: agricultural safety and health, air sampling instruments, bioaerosols, biological exposure indices, industrial ventilation, international, small business, chemical substance TLVs, and physical agent TLVs.[4]
Publications
The Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene journal, was published from 1990 through 2003 and was formerly published as Applied Industrial Hygiene from 1986 through 1989. This ACGIH peer-reviewed journal provided scientific information and data to members until ACGIH and AIHA began publishing a joint journal.[5]
The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (JOEH) is a joint publication of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and ACGIH. JOEH is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to enhancing the knowledge and practice of occupational and environmental hygiene and safety by widely disseminating research articles and applied studies of the highest quality.[6]
Published monthly, JOEH provides a written medium for the communication of ideas, methods, processes, and research in the areas of occupational, industrial, and environmental hygiene; exposure assessment; engineering controls; occupational and environmental epidemiology, medicine and toxicology; ergonomics; and other related disciplines.
Committees
The activities of each Committee are directed by an individual mission statement.[7]
Agricultural Safety & Health Committee
Mission - To promote those activities and programs necessary to our suited for agriculture or agro-business and to increase awareness of occupational health, safety, and environmental issues affecting this underserved population worldwide.
Air Sampling Instruments Committee
Mission - To report on the availability, efficiency, use, and limitations of existing and new sampling methodology and instrumentation.
Bioaerosols Committee
Mission - To compile and disseminate information on biologically derived contaminants that may become airborne, to develop recommendations for assessment, control, remediation, and prevention of such hazards, and to establish criteria for bioaerosol exposure limits.
Biological Exposure Indices Committee
Mission - To develop occupational biological exposure guidelines that are scientifically valid and supported by professional judgment, up-to-date, well-documented, understandable, clear, and produced by a clearly defined process that is balanced and free of conflict of interest.
Industrial Ventilation
Mission - To provide a safe and healthful environment by integrating state-of-the-art information from government and industry sources, using them to develop and recommend ventilation and other engineering controls to capture, collect, filter, and remove airborne contaminants from the workplace.
International Committee
Mission - To help develop and support ACGIH's international initiatives.
Small Business Committee
Mission - To develop and disseminate practical information that operators of small businesses and their employees can apply to the recognition, evaluation, and control of workplace hazards and to assist education safety and health professionals in working with small business concerns.
Threshold Limit Values for Chemicals Substances Committee
Mission - To recommend airborne concentrations of agents and exposure conditions for use in the practice of industrial hygiene and by other qualified professionals to protect worker health.
Threshold Limit Values for Physical Agents Committee
Mission - To develop and disseminate occupational exposure guidelines that are evidence-based, scientifically valid, and rigorously review.
TLVs and BEIs
ACGIH establishes the Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) for chemical substances, physical agents, and Biological Exposure Indices (BEIs);[8] which refer to the airborne concentrations of chemical substances that workers can be safely exposed to over their working lifetime.[9] They are divided into four categories: time-weighted average (TWA), short-term exposure limit (STEL), surface limit (SL), and ceiling (C).[10]
The Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances (TLV-CS) Committee was established in 1941. This group was charged with investigating, recommending, and annually reviewing exposure limits for chemical substances. It became a standing committee in 1944. Two years later, the organization adopted its first list of 148 exposure limits, then referred to as Maximum Allowable Concentrations. The term "Threshold Limit Values (TLV) was introduced in 1956. The first list of Threshold Limit Values and Biological Exposure Indices (the TLVs and BEIs book) was published in 1962. A new edition is now published annually. Today's list of TLVs and BEIs includes over 600 chemical substances and physical agents, as well as over 30 Biological Exposure Indices for selected chemicals.
The TLVs and BEIs are developed as guidelines to assist in the control of health hazards. These recommendations or guidelines are intended for use in the practice of industrial hygiene, to be interpreted and applied only by a person trained in this discipline. While not enforceable like OSHA's "permissible limit exposures", TLVs and BEIs are still significant and act as advisory numbers to OSHA and to manufacturers who care about workplace safety.[11]
In certain circumstances, individuals or organizations may wish to make use of these recommendations or guidelines if the use of TLVs and BEIs contributes to the overall improvement in worker protection.
Foundation for Occupational Health & Safety
The Foundation for Occupational Health & Safety (FOHS) is an ACGIH supported nonprofit that promotes workplace and worker well-being worldwide through professional education, scientific research in the field and on the profession itself, and the creation of the Sustainable TLV/BEI Fund.[12]
In 2003, the YIHWAG Family Foundation awarded FOHS a substantial grant to benefit the needs of educational organizations in developing countries throughout the world. From this grant, FOHS established the Worldwide Outreach Program. Its mission is to support the professional development of occupational health and safety throughout the world. Qualifying educational organizations, professional organizations, and non-government organizations seeking to further the goals of the World Health OrganizationCollaborating Centers for Occupational Health’s 2006-2010 Work Plan can apply for program grants ranging from $1,000 - $2,000.[13]
In 2008, FOHS created the Sustainable TLV/BEI Fund. The core purpose of the fund is to develop sustainable financial support to ensure the continued existence of ACGIH® TLVs and BEIs. Since its inception the core purpose and ‘cause’ of ACGIH has been to protect workplace employees through the development of science-based occupational exposure guidelines widely known as the TLVs and BEIs. These guidelines have become recognized throughout the world as forming the scientific basis for subsequent development of workplace standards.[14]
Related Research Articles
In organic chemistry, isocyanate is the functional group with the formula R−N=C=O. Organic compounds that contain an isocyanate group are referred to as isocyanates. An organic compound with two isocyanate groups is known as a diisocyanate. Diisocyanates are manufactured for the production of polyurethanes, a class of polymers.
Occupational hygiene is the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, control, and confirmation (ARECC) of protection from risks associated with exposures to hazards in, or arising from, the workplace that may result in injury, illness, impairment, or affect the well-being of workers and members of the community. These hazards or stressors are typically divided into the categories biological, chemical, physical, ergonomic and psychosocial. The risk of a health effect from a given stressor is a function of the hazard multiplied by the exposure to the individual or group. For chemicals, the hazard can be understood by the dose response profile most often based on toxicological studies or models. Occupational hygienists work closely with toxicologists for understanding chemical hazards, physicists for physical hazards, and physicians and microbiologists for biological hazards. Environmental and occupational hygienists are considered experts in exposure science and exposure risk management. Depending on an individual's type of job, a hygienist will apply their exposure science expertise for the protection of workers, consumers and/or communities.
The permissible exposure limit is a legal limit in the United States for exposure of an employee to a chemical substance or physical agent such as high level noise. Permissible exposure limits were established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Most of OSHA's PELs were issued shortly after adoption of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act in 1970.
Acute toxicity describes the adverse effects of a substance that result either from a single exposure or from multiple exposures in a short period of time. To be described as acute toxicity, the adverse effects should occur within 14 days of the administration of the substance.
The threshold limit value (TLV) is a level of occupational exposure to a hazardous substance where it is believed that nearly all healthy workers can repeatedly experience at or below this level of exposure without adverse effects. Strictly speaking, TLV is a reserved term of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), who determines and publishes TLVs annually. TLVs issued by the ACGIH are the most widely accepted occupational exposure limits both in the United States and most other countries. However, it is sometimes loosely used to refer to other similar concepts used in occupational health and toxicology, such as acceptable daily intake (ADI) and tolerable daily intake (TDI). Concepts such as TLV, ADI, and TDI can be compared to the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) in animal testing, but whereas a NOAEL can be established experimentally during a short period, TLV, ADI, and TDI apply to human beings over a lifetime and thus are harder to test empirically and are usually set at lower levels. TLVs, along with biological exposure indices (BEIs), are published annually by the ACGIH.
The wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) is a measure of environmental heat as it affects humans. Unlike a simple temperature measurement, WBGT accounts for all four major environmental heat factors: air temperature, humidity, radiant heat, and air movement. It is used by industrial hygienists, athletes, sporting events and the military to determine appropriate exposure levels to high temperatures.
Chloroprene (IUPAC name 2-chlorobuta-1,3-diene) is a chemical compound with the molecular formula CH2=CCl−CH=CH2. Chloroprene is a colorless volatile liquid, almost exclusively used as a monomer for the production of the polymer polychloroprene, better known as neoprene, a type of synthetic rubber.
2-Butoxyethanol is an organic compound with the chemical formula BuOC2H4OH (Bu = CH3CH2CH2CH2). This colorless liquid has a sweet, ether-like odor, as it derives from the family of glycol ethers, and is a butyl ether of ethylene glycol. As a relatively nonvolatile, inexpensive solvent, it is used in many domestic and industrial products because of its properties as a surfactant. It is a known respiratory irritant and can be acutely toxic, but animal studies did not find it to be mutagenic, and no studies suggest it is a human carcinogen. A study of 13 classroom air contaminants conducted in Portugal reported a statistically significant association with increased rates of nasal obstruction and a positive association below the level of statistical significance with a higher risk of obese asthma and increased child BMI.
Adiponitrile is an organic compound with the chemical formula (CH2)4(CN)2. This viscous, colourless dinitrile is an important precursor to the polymer nylon 66. In 2005, about one million tonnes of adiponitrile were produced.
A recommended exposure limit (REL) is an occupational exposure limit that has been recommended by the United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The REL is a level that NIOSH believes would be protective of worker safety and health over a working lifetime if used in combination with engineering and work practice controls, exposure and medical monitoring, posting and labeling of hazards, worker training and personal protective equipment. To formulate these recommendations, NIOSH evaluates all known and available medical, biological, engineering, chemical, trade, and other information. Although not legally enforceable limits, RELS are transmitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) of the U.S. Department of Labor for use in promulgating legal standards.
An occupational exposure limit is an upper limit on the acceptable concentration of a hazardous substance in workplace air for a particular material or class of materials. It is typically set by competent national authorities and enforced by legislation to protect occupational safety and health. It is an important tool in risk assessment and in the management of activities involving handling of dangerous substances. There are many dangerous substances for which there are no formal occupational exposure limits. In these cases, hazard banding or control banding strategies can be used to ensure safe handling.
1-Bromopropane (n-propylbromide or nPB) is an organobromine compound with the chemical formula CH3CH2CH2Br. It is a colorless liquid that is used as a solvent. It has a characteristic hydrocarbon odor. Its industrial applications increased dramatically in the 21st century due to the phasing out of chlorofluorocarbons and chloroalkanes such as 1,1,1-Trichloroethane under the Montreal Protocol.
An Exposure Action Value (EAV) or Action Value (AV) is a limit set on occupational exposure to noise where, when those values are exceeded, employers must take steps to monitor the exposure levels. These levels are measured in decibels. The American Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) set the EAV to 85 dB(A). When the eight-hour time-weighted average (TWA) reaches 85 dB(A), employers are required to administer a continuing, effective hearing conservation program. The program consists of monitoring, employee notification, observation, an audiometric testing program, hearing protectors, training programs, and record-keeping requirements.
Hexachlorobutadiene, (often abbreviated as "HCBD") Cl2C=C(Cl)C(Cl)=CCl2, is a colorless liquid at room temperature that has an odor similar to that of turpentine. It is a chlorinated aliphatic diene with niche applications but is most commonly used as a solvent for other chlorine-containing compounds. Structurally, it has a 1,3-butadiene core, but fully substituted with chlorine atoms.
A short-term exposure limit (STEL) is the acceptable average exposure over a short period of time, usually 15 minutes as long as the time-weighted average is not exceeded.
Occupational toxicology is the application of toxicology to chemical hazards in the workplace. It focuses on substances and conditions that people may be exposed to in workplaces, including inhalation and dermal exposures, which are most prevalent when discussing occupational toxicology. These environmental and individual exposures can impact health, and there is a focus on identifying early adverse affects that are more subtle than those presented in clinical medicine.
The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization, whose mission is "Creating knowledge to protect worker health." The American Industrial Hygiene Association works to provide information and resources to Industrial Hygienists and Occupational Health professionals.
Occupational exposure banding, also known as hazard banding, is a process intended to quickly and accurately assign chemicals into specific categories (bands), each corresponding to a range of exposure concentrations designed to protect worker health. These bands are assigned based on a chemical’s toxicological potency and the adverse health effects associated with exposure to the chemical. The output of this process is an occupational exposure band (OEB). Occupational exposure banding has been used by the pharmaceutical sector and by some major chemical companies over the past several decades to establish exposure control limits or ranges for new or existing chemicals that do not have formal OELs. Furthermore, occupational exposure banding has become an important component of the Hierarchy of Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs).
There are unique occupational health issues in the casino industry, many of which are attributed to repetitive tasks and long-term exposures to hazards in the casino environment. Among these issues are cancers resulting from exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, musculoskeletal injury (MSI) from repetitive motion injuries while running table games over many hours, and health issues associated with shift work. Safety and regulatory agencies in the United States have implemented regulatory measures to address the specific risks associated with workers in the casino industry, and have made efforts to identify additional possible risks to casino workers, including noise-induced hearing loss and heavy metal poisoning from exposure to dust from coins.
Workplace exposure monitoring is the monitoring of substances in a workplace that are chemical or biological hazards. It is performed in the context of workplace exposure assessment and risk assessment. Exposure monitoring analyzes hazardous substances in the air or on surfaces of a workplace, and is complementary to biomonitoring, which instead analyzes toxicants or their effects within workers.
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