Veiligheidsforum

NL-Advising on the consequences of occupational exposure to substances is changed by the new system of limit values
The revised Arbeidsomstandighedenwet [Dutch Health and Safety
Act] took effect on 1 January 2007. This Act gives employers and
employees more responsibility for the policy on working
conditions. Part of this Act is a new system for establishing the
limit values for substances to which people may be exposed while
at work. A distinction is made between public and private
standards. The point of departure in the new system is the health
based exposure limit and safe working methods established by the
companies themselves. The government supplements these private
threshold values with a number of legally binding limit values.
These are public standards that are established for (1) (genotoxic)
carcinogenic substances and (2) non-carcinogenic substances that
fulfil certain selection criteria. The changes in the new system of
occupational exposure limits also lead to changes in the activities of
the committees of the Health Council1 that are involved with
advising regarding substances at work.

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