While individuals may easily be able to sense irritation, there are inter-individual differences in tolerance towards irritation, and some workers may persist working in an environment despite an overt sense of irritation to the eyes, respiratory tract or skin. To remove this subjectivity and not place the responsibility of sensing a threshold for irritation on the individual worker, a WES value may be assigned based on irritation as the critical effect, provided it is also considered a critical effect by a primary agency. Introduction to advisory notations workplace exposure standards are published with advisory notations associated with the Australia’s hazardous chemical. The notations are provided with the exposure standard for information only, so a PCBU and workers can take informed action to minimise exposure and risks. A notation will only be recommended if a WES value (or an interim WES value) has been recommended. These notations consist of: classification of carcinogenicity (carcinogen) classification of sensitisation (respiratory and/or dermal sensitiser) the potential for systemic effects due to skin absorption (skin), and Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH). The abbreviations for these notations are shown in Table 5. Table 5 Advisory notations that may be assigned together with the WES Notation Abbreviation Carc. Cat. 1A Carcinogen Carc. Cat. 1B Carc. Cat. 2 Respiratory sensitiser RSEN Dermal sensitiser DSEN Skin notation Sk. Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health IDLH Carcinogenicity notation Chemicals on the WES list that meet the criteria for classification as a carcinogen according to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) will be assigned one of three GHS categories (Table 6). This classification will be consistent with the classification listed for the chemical in the Hazardous Chemical Information System (HCIS).
While individuals may easily be able to sense irritation, there are inter-individual differences in tolerance towards irritation, and some workers may persist working in an environment despite an overt sense of irritation to the eyes, respiratory tract or skin. To remove this subjectivity and not place the responsibility of sensing a threshold for irritation on the individual worker, a WES value may be assigned based on irritation as the critical effect, provided it is also considered a critical effect by a primary agency. Introduction to advisory notations Australia’s workplace exposure standards are published with advisory notations associated with the hazardous chemical. The notations are provided with the exposure standard for information only, so a PCBU and workers can take informed action to minimise exposure and risks. A notation will only be recommended if a WES value (or an interim WES value) has been recommended. These notations consist of: classification of carcinogenicity (carcinogen) classification of sensitisation (respiratory and/or dermal sensitiser) the potential for systemic effects due to skin absorption (skin), and Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health (IDLH). The abbreviations for these notations are shown in Table 5. Table 5 Advisory notations that may be assigned together with the WES Notation Abbreviation Carcinogen Carc. Cat. 1A Carc. Cat. 1B Carc. Cat. 2 Respiratory sensitiser RSEN Dermal sensitiser DSEN Skin notation Sk. Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health IDLH Carcinogenicity notation Chemicals on the WES list that meet the criteria for classification as a carcinogen according to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) will be assigned one of three GHS categories (Table 6). This classification will be consistent with the classification listed for the chemical in the Hazardous Chemical Information System (HCIS).
wes_methodology_recommending_health-based_workplace_exposure_standards_and_notations.docx