Substitution of dangerous chemicals

Substitution of hazardous chemicals in the working environment is a method to a fundamental and continued improvement of occupational health by selection and development of alternative technical processes using less hazardous chemicals or no chemicals at all. In a substitution the chemicals in the final situation must be potentially less hazardous than in the initial situation, and the difference should be as great as possible. It is especially important to avoid chemicals with long-term effects of a carcinogenic, reprotoxic, allergenic, or neurotoxic nature. Less hazardous chemicals are not necessarily harmless, so the traditional preventive measures may still have to be used, but the substitution has reduced the level of hazards. Successful substitution may, however, require technical and organizational changes. Substitution cuts the cycle of hazardous chemicals – also in the environment. Substitution of hazardous chemicals is one way to clean technology. The main problem is to get these less hazardous technical possibilities realized to a full extent in the foreseeable future.

A systematic process-based method, which is based on a process engineering point of view, is useful both on branch and company level and includes:

Listing the chemical products is the first step in a systematic approach to improve occupational health. The method proposes to use a form should be used for each chemical product, and to perform surveys of production lines, processes and process steps so that the chemical products can be referred thereto. Listing on a company level will normally result in a purge of chemical products, because it is often found that some products are used in places other than those intended, that products are no longer used and that there is more than one product for a specific use.

The data sheets has a matrix which, when filled in, provides a picture of the present knowledge of the long-term effects:

The matrix specifies detailed the knowledge of the long-term effects. The most common result is “No documentation”. In future we can hope to get substances separated in “damage to health” and “probably no damage to health”. In the work with substitution it is important to distinguish between “Probably no damage to health” and “No documentation”. The matrix could be useful for producers when they formulate products and want to avoid chemicals with long-term effects. In workshops the matrix could be used to control that there is sufficient information on available data sheets.

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Wikipedia