Occupational exposure levels and women workers

Unions point out that most toxicological data used for setting exposure limits for hazardous substances (in the UK these are the Workplace Exposure Levels (WELs) set out in the HSE publication EH40) are derived from male subjects. WELs are concentrations of hazardous substances in the air, averaged over a specified period of time, referred to as a time-weighted average (TWA). Two time periods are used: long-term (eight hours); and short-term (15 minutes). Short-term exposure limits are set to help prevent effects such as eye irritation, which may occur following exposure for a few minutes.

The TUC says they are the absolute maximum level to which workers can be exposed, and even where these maximum levels are set, employers still have a duty to reduce levels to as low as is “reasonably practicable”. However, according to the TUC, “many employers see Workplace Exposure Limits as the level up to which it is safe to expose people”.

In addition, many substances have not been assigned WELs and the ETUI says millions of women in Europe are exposed to toxic products, especially in cleaning and personal care jobs, but preventative measures are generally only taken in industrial settings.