Meeting the latest health and hygiene monitoring requirements

In its 2019.2 release, Environmental, Health, Safety and Quality (EHSQ) software company Cority has announced two enhancements in line with Australian-specific health and hygiene monitoring requirements.

Enhancement 1: Québec OEL adjustment capability

The Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists Inc. (AIOH) position on adjustment of workplace exposure standards for atmospheric contaminants for extended shifts is that:

• many industries now work shifts that are longer than the standard eight‐hour day, requiring an adjustment of the workplace exposure standard to best protect worker health; and
• there are significant differences in the various adjustment methods available, resulting in significant differences in adjusted exposure standards.
   

As a result, the AIOH recommends that organisations move to a single model based on the ‘Québec model’, which references Australian Workplace Exposure Standards (WES). The computer-based model utilises current toxicological information and provides consistent guidance.

Cority will now allow clients to select the Québec method for adjusting exposure standards for extended shifts. This includes:

• choice of method, ie, Brief and Scala; ‘Québec model’; or Manual Entry (for national, state, province, corporate requirements);
• standardisation of consistent adjustment factors within the client’s industrial health monitoring program;
• easy method selection; and
• reduced ‘clicks’ and data entry errors when entering adjustment factors for agent hazards.

Enhancement 2: Addition of 95% percentile on the Exposure Group Statistical (Australia) Report

In a move to meet the requirements of the Western Australian Government’s Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Cority now includes the addition of the 95% percentile on the Exposure Group Statistical (Australia) Report in specific reference to creation of health and hygiene management plans.

Clients input the individual sample results and Cority calculates if the SEG exposures are compliant with an exposure standard then the critical aspect is the upper tail of the exposure profile rather than the mean (average).

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