Occupational Hygiene Checklist

Work the survey below: add a row per agent, enter the measured value, and the tool compares it to the limit and writes the status — below, at, or above. The limits table below is the working reference: the UK values and action levels alongside the OSHA PELs and action levels, so the survey speaks both languages.

How to use the tool

1. Identify the agents — the noise, the dusts (silica first), the fumes, the vapours, the vibration, the temperature
2. For each, set the source, the location, the people exposed and the duration — the exposure, not just the agent
3. Measure — the instrument reading: the dBA TWA, the mg/m3, the ppm, the m/s2 — and enter it in the row
4. Compare to the limit — the tool sets the status against the limit shown
5. Action — the control for the above-limit row, the monitoring plan for the near-limit row, and the health surveillance where the exposure is ongoing

Worked example

A grinding workshop OH survey. Noise — measured 89 dBA TWA at the grinder, the 85 action level exceeded: hearing conservation in place, the extract fan on the grinder brings the bay level to 84 on re-measure, the remaining exposure is within the limit with the rotation. Silica dust — the dry-grinding task: measured 0.4 mg/m3 respirable, against the UK control band of 0.1 — wet-grinding required, the dry task stops until it is wet or enclosed. Welding fume — 1.8 mg/m3 total, within the 4 mg/m3 limit, local exhaust on, the surveillance (the lung function and the blood) continues. Vibration — the angle grinder at 4.2 m/s2 daily against the 2.5 action value: rotation and the low-vibration tool, the hand-arm surveillance in place. Two actions, one surveillance plan, the survey printed and the re-measure dates set.

Standard & legal context

The UK Workplace Exposure Limits (WELs) under the COSHH and Control of Dust regulations set the measured limits, with the lower action levels (the 85 dBA for noise under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005) as the early-warning line. The OSHA PELs and the action levels (the 90 dBA TWA with the 5 dBA exchange) are the US pair. The ACGIH TLVs are the professional reference the hygiene practitioner uses when the law is silent. The table below carries the working limits for the common agents — the survey compares the measurement to both, and the stricter governs.

Common mistakes

1. Surveying the agent and not the exposure — the limit is on the exposure (the TWA, the time-weighted value), not on the instantaneous peak nobody can act on
2. Measuring once and filing it — the survey is a baseline; the re-measure after the control is the proof the control worked
3. Skipping the silica — respirable crystalline silica is the agent with the lowest limit and the longest latency, and the dry task is the one that exceeds it
4. No health surveillance on the ongoing exposure — the measurement says the level; the surveillance says the effect, and the two together are the OH record