Page 293 - Industrial Ventilation Design Guidebook

5.3 TOXiCITY AND RISKS INDUCED BY OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS 249

TABLE 5.9 Classifications of Toxicology

Area of toxicology Scope

Mechanistic Understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms
Regulatory Drafting regulations and legislation
Organ-specific Defining organ-specific effects and defining chemically
induced critical effects
Forensic Diagnosis and fatalities
Occupational Delineating occupational hazards and risks and prevention
Environmental Identification of chemical hazards in the environment, and
their effects on humans and wildlife species
Clinical Diagnosis and treatment of poisoning

animals such as fish, insects, birds, and other wild animals. Industrial or occu-
pational toxicology aims to study the effects of chemicals on workers exposed
in an occupational environment (see Table 5.9).
Toxicology often provides the basis for a number of regulations aimed at
protecting workers from potentially harmful effects. Today, more than ever
before, toxicology has a preventive function that provides information on
chemicals that can be used safely. It is difficult to imagine occupational or
other safety regulations without a major input from toxicology.
The main role of toxicology in the industrial setting originates from its
ability to identify harmful chemicals and other hazards in advance. After toxi-
cological research has identified exposure-effects relationships for different
chemicals, occupational exposure limits (OELs) for various industrial chemi-
cals can be established. Subsequently, workers can be protected against exces-
sive exposures by measuring the exposure and ensuring that the OELs are not
violated; ventilation engineers and occupational hygienists are the key persons
in this field. Careful planning and design can ensure that most workers can be
protected, nevertheless the most sensitive individuals may still react to expo-
sure levels that are below the acceptable exposure limits. These relationships
also indicate the close relationship between industrial toxicology and indus-
trial hygiene. Without a broad knowledge of the toxicological characteristics
of chemicals, industrial hygiene is more or less irrelevant. On the other hand,
without industrial hygiene, toxicology would be helpless in protecting the
workers against chemical hazards.

5.3.1.4 Industrial Toxicology, Hygiene, and Occupational Medicine
Industrial toxicology, industrial hygiene, and occupational medicine all
have a common goal: to protect workers from occupational hazards in the
workplace. The goal of toxicological research is to protect the worker by
characterizing the biological effects of chemicals and by identifying the haz-
ardous agents, whereas the goal of occupational hygiene is to protect work-
ers by improving the occupational environment. The goal of occupational
medicine, in turn, is to protect workers' health by identifying early signs of
harmful effects, and to diagnose and treat occupation-related diseases. In