Hygiena 2012, 57(3):110-116 | DOI: 10.21101/hygiena.a0946

Modelling of Chemical Exposures in the Working Atmosphere

Zdeněk Fiala¹, Daniel Drolet², Vladimír Kraják³, Adolf Vyskočil⁴, Jan Kremláček¹, Ondřej Fiala⁵, Lenka Borská¹, Peter Bednarčík⁶, Tomáš Borský⁵

¹ Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Lékařská fakulta v Hradci Králové, Hradec Králové

² Occupational Health and Safety Research Institute (IRSST), Montreal, Canada

³ Zdravotní ústav se sídlem v Hradci Králové, Hradec Králové

⁴ University of Montreal, Medical Faculty, Montreal, Canada

⁵ Medtec-VOP s.r.o., Hradec Králové

⁶ Univerzita obrany, Fakulta vojenského zdravotnictví, Hradec Králové

Presented review article deals with the possibilities of selected tools and approaches in the process of modeling of occupational exposures to chemicals. It also describes the critical elements of effective exposure assessment in the health risk assessment and management procedures. The existing methods of estimation of exposure levels are discussed and their strengths and weaknesses are analyzed. Brief characteristics of conventional-empirical models, statistical-empirical models, physical-chemical models and Bayesian models are submitted. Greater attention is paid to mathematical and physical relationships and factors that modify the basis of physical-chemical models.

Keywords: occupational exposure, chemicals, working atmosphere, exposure models, health risk assessment (HRA)

Received: November 2011; Accepted: January 30, 2012; Published: September 1, 2012  Show citation