Procedure for establishing a statutory OEL
In the period from 1976 to 2007, statutory OELS were established in the Netherlands following a three-stage procedure:
| 1. |
A group of independent experts (the Dutch Health Council Expert Committee on Occupational Standards, or Commissie WGD) recommended an OEL for a given substance, based on toxicological considerations. |
| 2. |
A tripartite committee (the Council’s OEL Subcommittee, then known as the Subcommissie MAC-waarden) considered this recommendation in the light of its socio-economic and technical consequences and the practical feasibility of introducing it as an OEL, and made a recommendation to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. |
| 3. |
On the basis of both recommendations, the Ministry then decided whether to set the proposed limit as the statutory OEL for the substance. |
Note:
Recommendations by the European Commission’s Scientific Committee for Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL) issued after 1 January 2002 followed the same procedure as Dutch Health Council recommendations, i.e., Stages II and III of the procedure for a statutory OEL. (Substances for which the Health Council has already made a recommendation were exempted from this procedure until the two Working Programmes had been brought fully into line with one another.) The need for a feasibility test was decided on a case-by-case basis.
Procedure for establishing an administrative OEL
The procedure for establishing an administrative OEL followed two stages:
| 1. |
The OEL Subcommittee selected for assessment an OEL currently in use in a foreign country. After satisfying itself that the OEL was appropriate and could be feasibly implemented in the Netherlands, the OEL Subcommittee then recommended to the Ministry that it be adopted as an OEL in the Netherlands. |
| 2. |
On the basis of the OEL Subcommittee’s recommendation, the Ministry then decided to approve this foreign OEL as an administrative OEL for the substance. |
It should be noted that this procedure differed from the procedure for approving a statutory OEL in that the Dutch Health Council Expert Committee on Occupational Standards was not involved in setting an administrative OEL.
In choosing foreign OELs for assessment, the OEL Subcommittee drew primarily on the OEL lists of Germany, Sweden and the UK, as the procedures for setting OELs in these countries were very similar to the procedure used in the Netherlands.
OEL Subcommittee assessment procedures Assignment to dedicated Working Programme In assessing a proposed (statutory or administrative) OEL, the Subcommittee first assigned the proposed OEL to a particular Working Programme, according to its country of origin.
Industry involvement The OEL Subcommittee then sought the involvement of relevant groups (e.g., employer and employee representative organisations, industry organisations, Occupational Health & Safety Services and other organisations). Industry organisations and Occupational Health & Safety Services were specifically invited to register their interest in contributing to a feasibility study on the implementation of proposed (statutory or administrative) OELs, in order to ensure that, before it was adopted, any proposed OEL could realistically be implemented in practice.
Feasibility tests The Subcommittee then invited industry organisations to submit information on the feasibility of implementing the proposed (statutory or administrative) OEL. If the Subcommittee received no information or reports, it assumed that the proposed OEL was acceptable and its implementation was possible. The Subcommittee then recommended to the Ministry that the proposed (statutory or administrative) OEL be adopted.