20 - Health and Safety Standards

Abstract

Air contaminant standards have been established to protect the safety, health, and welfare of people who work in areas that have hazardous airborne contaminants. These standards are intended to protect not only workers but also family members, customers, and nearby communities. Several federal agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the World Health Organization (WHO), have developed recommended health and safety standards to protect the worker and the surrounding community from air contaminants. OSHA enforces standards for the workplace to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. NIOSH is responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. It published the Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards as a source of general industrial hygiene information for workers, employers, and occupational health professionals. The purpose for establishing an IDLH value in the Standards Completion Program was to determine the airborne concentration from which a worker could escape without injury or irreversible health effects from an IDLH exposure in the event of the failure of personal protection equipment. WHO serves as the directing and coordinating authority for international health matters and public health. One of WHO's constitutional functions is to provide objective and reliable information and advice in the field of human health, a responsibility that it fulfills in part through its publication programs.