CEN/TC 137/WG 6 - Dermal Exposure

ISO/TS 21623:2017 describes a systematic approach to assess potential occupational risks related to nano-objects and their agglomerates and aggregates (NOAA) arising from the production and use of nanomaterials and/or nano-enabled products. This approach provides guidance to identify exposure routes, exposed body parts and potential consequences of exposure with respect to skin uptake, local effects and inadvertent ingestion.
ISO/TS 21623:2017 also considers occupational use of products containing NOAA by professionals, e.g. beauticians applying personal care products, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals, but does not apply to deliberate or prescribed exposure to these products by consumers.
ISO/TS 21623:2017 is aimed at occupational hygienists, researchers and other safety professionals to assist recognition of potential dermal exposure and its potential consequences.

This Technical Specification establishes principles and describes methods for the measurement of dermal exposure in workplaces. It gives guidance on the commonly used approaches to the measurement of dermal exposure, their advantages and limitations and how these might be assessed in specific circumstances for specific compounds.
This Technical Specification should enable users of dermal sampling methods to adopt a consistent approach to method validation and provide a framework for the assessment of method performance.
This Technical Specification describes the requirements against which sampling methods need to be assessed. It will then indicate methods for agreement with these requirements. Requirements include specification of the following:
NOTE   Not all requirements are applicable to all methods.
-   sampling efficiency;
-   recovery efficiency;
-   sample stability;
-   maximum capacity;
-   bias, precision, overall uncertainty;
-   core information;
-   contextual information.

This Technical Report gives guidance on approaches for awareness and evaluation of dermal exposure in workplaces.
This Technical Report describes strategies to evaluate exposure of the skin to chemical and biological agents qualitatively and quantitatively, e.g. to analyse exposure, as part of the risk assessment process, to investigate associations between exposure and diseases, and to evaluate control measures.
The definitions and procedures given in this document are primarily related to dermal exposure to chemical substances.
The specifications given in this Technical Report are not applicable to microbiological skin contaminants.