The Workplace Exposure Assessment Workbook (WORKBOOK)

Abstract

Workplace exposure assessment models assist knowledgeable, qualified people (e.g., safety and health professionals, chemists, and engineers) to evaluate employee exposures under the review of a professional hygienist. The Workplace Exposure Assessment Workbook (WORKBOOK) is a qualitative logic model that provides a systematic means for directing industrial hygiene decisions and actions. It has several fundamental functions: compiling an initial characterization of the facility, defining Homogeneous Exposure Groups (HEGs), performing Workplace Exposure Assessments (WEAs), performing Appropriate Monitoring Programs (AMPs), implementing the “hierarchy of controls,” verifying workplace controls, and determining periodic reviews. WORKBOOK can be used in conjunction with other exposure assessment tools such as numerical models, monitoring programs, and statistical methods. Tait, K. The Workplace Exposure Assessment Workbook (WORKBOOK). Appl. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 8(1):55-68; 1993.