J. Moran

OSHA health standards require a systematic approach to determination of exposure levels and the subsequent implementation, based upon exposure levels, of an integrated program including monitoring, exposure controls, medical surveillance, training, record keeping, and the like. The only genuinely "worker" focused standard is the HAZCOM standard, however. A view of the occupational exposure situation from the workers perspective will be presented based upon a number of actual incidents.

During the last few years, a few "seeds of potential change" have begun to emerge. Some of these can be viewed as considering workers are participants and becoming "part of the solution" while others continue to see workers as "part of the problem" or even not party to the "problem". There are many challenges associated with the exposure of workers to harmful substances and materials. The approaches of the past 25 years have fallen short concurrent with the expanding complexity of the workplace and the materials utilized therein. The future of occupational health standards, as developed and employed over the past 25 years, is uncertain. Change is needed, yet that dynamic must, more than ever before, include the worker. The National Laboratories can play a unique and powerful role in that future if they are able to bridge the gap between the "researcher" and the "worker".