In March 2023, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) proposed revised guidelines for measuring workplace exposure limits for hazardous substances under the country’s Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA).
A public consultation on the revised technical guidelines for the application of concentration standards was initiated in March 2023, by the MHLW in order to reduce health risks from chemical compounds. The consultation ended on 5 April 2023. The guidelines are expected to be enforced on 1 April 2024.
The guidelines include details on the risk reduction measures, workplace concentration standard values (exposure limits) with their application, and workplace exposure measuring methods for 73 substances including their sampling and analysis methods.
The list of substances includes:
|
Substance Name |
Sampling method |
Analysis Method |
|
Acetonitrile |
Solid collection method |
Gas chromatograph analysis |
|
Acetaldehyde |
Solid collection method |
High Performance Liquid Chromatograph Analysis |
|
Ethyl acrylate |
Solid collection method |
Gas chromatograph analysis |
|
Hydroquinone |
Hydroquinone |
High Performance Liquid Chromatograph Analysis |
|
Phenylhydrazine |
Liquid collection method |
High Performance Liquid Chromatograph Analysis |
|
1-bromopropane |
Solid collection method |
Gas chromatograph analysis |
|
Thallium |
Filtration collection method |
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry |
|
Aniline |
Filtration collection method |
Gas chromatograph analysis |