The current status of hygiene standard setting for chemical substances in workplaces in China

The hygiene standard setting for occupational hazards was started in the mid 1950s in China. Three documents on exposure limits for chemical substances in the work environment and some other documents related to exposure limits for physical agents have been published since then. The latest documentation on "Hygiene Standards for the Design of Industrial Premises" (Standard TJ 36-79) was promulgated in 1979. It contains a MAC list of 134 toxin agents and dusts which are most frequently used and encountered in China. However, a more sophisticated system of scientific research on hygiene standard setting has been created since the establishment of the National Scientific Commission of Hygiene Standard Setting in 1980. This system emphasizes health as a basic criterion, it strengthens epidemiological study of the human population, it integrates domestic and international information sources and it periodically reappraises the recommended standards. Based on these principles, more than forty new standards have been set for both chemicals and dusts since the founding of the committee. These new MACs are now in the process of being promulgated and are expected to take effect as the additional part of the MAC list published in 1979. In addition, further considerations of hygiene standard setting related to the conceptual renewal, selection of safety factor, legislation and enforcement of the hygiene standard, recommendations of exposure limits for occupational carcinogens, and speeding up the pace of hygiene standard setting are proposed in this paper.