Exposure Limits

Another type of hazard control is an occupational exposure limit. Exposure limits are procedures by which a worker's exposure to a potential hazard cannot exceed a set amount of time. For example, an employee can only work around a certain chemical for a specific amount of time.

A couple of terms you need to know relating to chemical hazards and exposure limits are:

• Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL): an OSHA-established set of exposure limits for chemicals; a PEL is a specific threshold that sets the chemical concentration to which a worker can be safely exposed.
• Threshold Limit Value (TLV): another set of exposure limits for chemicals, published by a professional association called American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH); TLVs are updated more frequently than OSHA PELs.

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