Toxicology and Occupational Hygiene (Essay Sample)

Toxicology and Occupational Hygiene
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Toxicology and Occupational Hygiene
Introduction
Human beings and other animals as well as plant species can get adverse effects from chemicals and other contaminated substances. Understanding of such risks is essential for both health and environmental practices. Risk characterization, Exposure assessment, Response assessment, and hazard identification are some of the steps that can help one in understanding the mitigation and adaptation strategies for combating the adverse effects of toxic substances. Some substances that are not easy to regulate in relation to their impacts hence, they require adaptation strategies to reduce their potential impacts on the environment as well as on other plant and animal species. Exposure assessment is an in-depth understanding and a complex subject of how human exposed data is collected and presented after the analysis. The purpose of the assessment is to protect life and influence effective and efficient decision making to risk managers. There are important factors to consider in relation to the assessment of the toxicity of a chemical as well as the assessment of the occupational hygiene monitoring of a chemical.
The Assessment of the Toxicity of a Chemical
The assessment of the toxicity of a chemical involves the determination or the evaluation of the quality, ability, and nature that have potentially harmful effects on humans as well as the environment. Environmental Protection Agency recognizes that the hazardous chemicals pose various risks to the health of the environment as well as the survival of other plant and animal species. (Burcham, 2013). Potential risks are dependent on the exposure and toxicity of chemical substances. Therefore, risk assessment includes Dose-Response Assessment, Risk Characterization, Exposure Assessment, as well as Hazard Identification. The process begins with hazard identification, followed by dose-response assessment then exposure assessment and finally Risk characterization.
Hazard Identification
The identification of hazards is essential since physicians can employ appropriate the mitigation and adaptation strategies if they can recognize the hazard (Mannan, 2012). It is the first step in the risk assessment process and it is essential to physicians for understanding the risks that can arise from various substances and chemicals. Effective techniques that one can use to identify hazards include chemicals screening, hazard indices, hazard and operational studies, as well as plant safety audits. A quantitative approach is fundamental to loss prevention, which aims at making a quantitative assessment. Hazard identification requires research from different areas since single findings alone are not sufficient for making a conclusion (Wiedemann and Schùtz, 2008). After one has succeeded in identifying the potential hazards to a particular work environment, it is appropriate to take appropriate step to mitigate the potential effects. Such steps aim at reducing the risks as well as the harm. Some of the changes that the physicians can make are the elimination of the hazardous chemical, safeguards, isolation, substitution, and use of protective devices and clothes (Mannan, 2012).
Dose-Response Assessment
All humans and other living species respond to a certain level of chemicals differently. It is important to understand that there is an optimum level for each of the chemicals, which if surpassed then other negative effects that might arise. The relationship between dose and response determines the acceptable and unacceptable range in which a certain chemical might be effective or ineffective respectively. As dosage increases, a chemical substance can move from effective dose (ED) to the lethal dose (TD) through toxic dose (TD). According to epa.gov, if the response to a certain dosage is death then it is referred to as lethal dose, while on the other hand if the response is undesirable toxicity then it is a toxic dose. In addition, a chemical substance may bring the desired effect and in such situation, the dosage is known as an effective dose (ED).
16469868519The graph shows the relationship between dose and response to a particular dosage.
For most of the toxic effects that might be exerted by a chemical substance, the dose-response curve is S-shaped (Nielsen et.al, 2008). Such situation means that no responses that can occur at lower dose levels. However, as the dose level increases the response continues to become more and more pronounced until the graph reaches an optimum level (Nielsen et.al, 2008). Other dose-response relationships are also possible for certain chemicals and compounds such as essential metals, where symptoms of deficiency may occur if the intake is too low, whereas toxic symptoms may occur if the intake is too high. For such compounds, the dose-response curve is U-shaped. For non-threshold effects such as mutagenicity, sensitization, genotoxic carcinogenicity, as well as Geno-toxicity, the dose-response curve is sometimes linear. On the other hand, in relation to the hormesis, the curve is sometimes J-shaped or an inverted U-shaped (Nielsen et.al, 2008).
Exposure Assessment
The aim of the assessment is to determine the number of pollutants or chemicals that workers or public are exposed to at a certain time. Exposure assessment focuses on chemicals released during the use of certain products. In a work environment, workers are often exposed to certain chemicals that may affect their biological systems. To estimate specific pathway exposure for consumer products or their constituents, information is needed about amount of the product used, concentration of the product in each type of activity, percent weight of the chemical in the product, frequency and duration of use, dermal exposure, and the amount of materials on the skin (Baker et.al, 2012). The exposure settings help in the identification of both point and non-point sources of contamination. Exposure pathways include surface water, groundwater, soil, air, and occupational settings. Further exposure assessment may benefit from biological and bio-monitoring scenarios (Torres, 2015).
Risk Characterization
Characterization of risks helps in the identification of health problems that arise from exposure to certain chemicals. It is a basic task in risk assessment, which constitutes the final step in the risk assessment process. In risk assessment, the evidence that highlights the critical and essential insights needs a qualified summary. It is crucial to have a causal relationship between exposure to a particular agent and an adverse health outcome is important (Wiedemann and Schùtz, 2008).
The Assessment of the Occupational Hygiene Monitoring of a Chemical Hazard
Occupational hygiene involves the control, evaluation, recognition, and recognition of the prevention and mitigation strategies of hazards from causing illness and injury to the workers and in the work environment. Health surveillance of workers involves biological monitoring and environmental monitoring of the workplace. It is essential to note that workers may be exposed to chemicals or other agents such as lead, ethylene oxide, and asbestos. The work environment has undergone great changes due to technological advancements and the use of chemicals for productions and other purposes. Not only the work itself but also the people’s opinion of work has changed. The assessment of the hygiene monitoring of a chemical hazard includes the biological monitoring as well as the environmental monitoring.
Biological Monitoring/Assessment
Biological assessment or monitoring is the measurement and determination of agents in body fluids, tissues, or expired air to understand the health risks and exposure to a specific environment or workplace (Conti, 2008). The health practitioners or the assessors can do the monitoring once or repeatedly to understand the strategies that they can employ to mitigate the potential risks. Health risks can be assessed through evaluation and determination of internal dose that the body can sustain. Workers are at risk of chemical exposure, which affects the ability of the body to maintain its metabolic activities because of inability to regulate homeostasis (Gardiner & Harrington, 2008). Therefore, the assessment can take into account internal dose that the body can tolerate to function normally. Some of the chemicals that one can assess with the use of biological measuring technique include cadmium, benzene, asbestos, acrylonitrile, pentachlorophenol, creosote, isocyanates, inorganic mercury, and inorganic arsenic. However, some of the chemicals are not used in other countries. For example, Australia does not recognize the use of pentachlorophenol. Understanding the mode of assessment involves determining the path a particular chemical take to enter the body of a living organism since there are different modes of entry. In addition, occupational physicians can use the duration of exposure to measure the contaminant intensity or amount. To determine the intensity of contaminant a worker has acquired during the work process, the specimen may be urine, blood, and sometimes fat, saliva, or milk. Metabolism and solubility of the chemical may also play a major role in its concentration. The biological matrices investigated in the modern assessment are blood, hair, tissues, and exhaled air (Angerer, 2008).
Environmental Monitoring/ Assessment
Monitoring and assessment of the environment are essential in determining the environmental challenges that might result from the introduction of certain chemicals in the environment. Water quality varies in different environments because of its ability to dissolve other substances. Therefore, monitoring of the environment should take into account various properties of the physical surroundings ...