Industrial hygiene data: compliance, dosage and clinical relevance

Much of the data collected by industrial hygienists on levels of airborne contaminants in the workplace is of marginal relevance to the needs and interests of physicians practicing occupational medicine. Several factors influence data collection. Regulatory agencies require rigid interpretation of exposure levels, yet concentrations of contaminants in the air environment vary considerably. This discrepancy suggests a different approach to dealing with the regulatory problem, one which recognizes its inherent statistical nature. Increased attention also should be devoted to basing sampling intervals more directly on toxicological measurements. These changes would result in the collection of environmental data of greater relevance to physicians, toxicologists and epidemiologists because such information would allow more realistic estimates of the hazard of a cumulative exposure for a given work population.