Exposure Calculator Intro
Imagine having the ability to assess the potential exposure from a work process in just a couple of minutes. The goal is to use available data about the process to estimate which exposure band a specific work process will fall into. The different exposure bands are shown below.
It is common practice to use “professional judgement” to perform an assessment. However, studies have shown that efforts, even by practicing Industrial Hygienists, are not significantly more reliable than random selection. However, the same studies show that the ability to put a scenario into the proper exposure category increases dramatically with the use of a checklist that provides a numerical weighting of the contributing factors of the exposure scenario.
The goal of this calculator is to walk the user through the key metrics of potential exposure and calculate the most likely exposure band that a given scenario falls into. For example, worker proximity to emission is one of the key metrics. You simply select the option that best fits your situation.
After answering 6 questions, the calculator will estimate the potential worker exposure as a percent of the Occupational Exposure Limit. To make it easier, the results are provided in Control Bands that have common actions that increase as the exposure increases.
Example of an exposure prediction from the Dust Exposure Calculator. In this particular case, the exposure is predicted to fall between 10 and 20% of the OEL for the product being used.
Click on the following links to go to the Calculators