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Hans Marquart

Publications and source records attributed to Hans Marquart.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Task-based dermal exposure models for regulatory risk assessment.

The regulatory risk assessment of chemicals requires the estimation of occupational dermal exposure. Until recently, the models used were either based on limited data or were specific to a particular class of chemical or application. The EU project RISKOFDERM has gathered a considerable number of new measurements of dermal exposure together with detailed contextual information. This article describes the development of a set of generic task-based models capable of predicting potential dermal exposure to both solids and liquids in a wide range of situations. To facilitate modelling of the wide variety of dermal exposure situations six separate models were made for groupings of exposure scenarios called Dermal Exposure Operation units (DEO units). These task-based groupings cluster exposure scenarios with regard to the expected routes of dermal exposure and the expected influence of exposure determinants. Within these groupings linear mixed effect models were used to estimate the influence of various exposure determinants and to estimate components of variance. The models predict median potential dermal exposure rates for the hands and the rest of the body from the values of relevant exposure determinants. These rates are expressed as mg or microl product per minute. Using these median potential dermal exposure rates and an accompanying geometric standard deviation allows a range of exposure percentiles to be calculated.

Environmental Monitoring↗

Default values for assessment of potential dermal exposure of the hands to industrial chemicals in the scope of regulatory risk assessments.

Dermal exposure needs to be addressed in regulatory risk assessment of chemicals. The models used so far are based on very limited data. The EU project RISKOFDERM has gathered a large number of new measurements on dermal exposure to industrial chemicals in various work situations, together with information on possible determinants of exposure. These data and information, together with some non-RISKOFDERM data were used to derive default values for potential dermal exposure of the hands for so-called 'TGD exposure scenarios'. TGD exposure scenarios have similar values for some very important determinant(s) of dermal exposure, such as amount of substance used. They form narrower bands within the so-called 'RISKOFDERM scenarios', which cluster exposure situations according to the same purpose of use of the products. The RISKOFDERM scenarios in turn are narrower bands within the so-called Dermal Exposure Operation units (DEO units) that were defined in the RISKOFDERM project to cluster situations with similar exposure processes and exposure routes. Default values for both reasonable worst case situations and typical situations were derived, both for single datasets and, where possible, for combined datasets that fit the same TGD exposure scenario. The following reasonable worst case potential hand exposures were derived from combined datasets: (i) loading and filling of large containers (or mixers) with large amounts (many litres) of liquids: 11,500 mg per scenario (14 mg cm(-2) per scenario with surface of the hands assumed to be 820 cm(2)); (ii) careful mixing of small quantities (tens of grams in <1l): 4.1 mg per scenario (0.005 mg cm(-2) per scenario); (iii) spreading of (viscous) liquids with a comb on a large surface area: 130 mg per scenario (0.16 mg cm(-2) per scenario); (iv) brushing and rolling of (relatively viscous) liquid products on surfaces: 6500 mg per scenario (8 mg cm(-2) per scenario) and (v) spraying large amounts of liquids (paints, cleaning products) on large areas: 12,000 mg per scenario (14 mg cm(-2) per scenario). These default values are considered useful for estimating exposure for similar substances in similar situations with low uncertainty. Several other default values based on single datasets can also be used, but lead to estimates with a higher uncertainty, due to their more limited basis. Sufficient analogy in all described parameters of the scenario, including duration, is needed to enable proper use of the default values. The default values lead to similar estimates as the RISKOFDERM dermal exposure model that was based on the same datasets, but uses very different parameters. Both approaches are preferred over older general models, such as EASE, that are not based on data from actual dermal exposure situations.

Environmental Monitoring↗

RISKOFDERM: risk assessment of occupational dermal exposure to chemicals. An introduction to a series of papers on the development of a toolkit.

Dermal exposure to industrial chemicals during work is of major concern in the risk assessment of chemicals. Current approaches in procedures for European legislation are not based on experimental data on dermal exposures in workplaces because these are lacking. A large project, with four interrelated work parts, was funded by the European Commission (DG Research) in order to overcome large parts of this problem. The 4 year project is now in its final year and an overview is given of an important part of the project: the development of a risk assessment and risk management toolkit for dermal exposure. Five other papers in this issue deal with various aspects of this development.

Humans↗

A proposal for evaluation of exposure data.

There is a growing need for transparency concerning ways in which existing exposure data are weighted for their relative value and quality. Currently, this evaluation is largely subjective and is dependent on the quality of the judgement of the individual assessor or expert group. In this paper some general guidelines are presented for a quality assessment procedure. Such a predetermined procedure potentially enhances the consistency among different assessors and assessments and facilitates harmonization of assessment procedures. The guidelines are presented in the context of a decision tree with four decision rules for data quality, i.e. 'availability of occupational hygiene information', 'variability and precision issues', 'internal validity' and 'external validity'. These methodological issues are considered to be the most important aspects of data quality and will be discussed in this paper. The decision tree eventually results in three quality classes, i.e. exposure data providing sufficient information, supplementary information and data which should be excluded from the exposure assessment process. The guidelines should not be used in a rigid manner but have to be interpreted in the light of the particular circumstances and purposes of the assessment.

Chemical Industry↗

Removing pesticides from the hands with a simple washing procedure using soap and water.

Crop activities lead to dermal exposure of workers to pesticides. The efficacy of hand washing as a control measure is unknown. The efficacy of water and soap was studied for some pesticides and exposure situations. Pre-washing contamination levels in field studies were calculated from foliar residues by models using transfer factors. Between 24.5% and 50.7% of the calculated prewashing contamination was removed in two field studies with three pesticides, with coefficients of variation between 43% and 72%. In a human volunteer study, on average 45.8% and 85.7% was removed for two pesticides (coefficients of variation 6% and 7%). No influence of 'washing vigour' was found and efficacy did not depend on pre-washing contamination levels. The combination of field studies and laboratory experiments was successful, partly compensating for weaknesses in both approaches.

Adult↗