TABLE OF CONTENTS In this Chapter we first present a brief outline of the role of chemicals in the economy of the European Union. We note the consequences of their use in terms of the effects of occupational exposure to hazardous substances on mortality and morbidity amongst workers. We then turn to a discussion of the relevant key approaches to regulating health and safety management of hazardous substances in the European Union. Since the book is concerned with the role of OELs in this regulation, the positions of OELs in current strategies to regulate chemical risk at European and national levels are outlined. This leads us to a reflection on some specific aspects of what OELs are and how they have developed and some key issues in understanding their meaning and appropriate use are identified and discussed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of these issues for the regulation of chemical risks that sets the scene for the chapters that follow.
According to the European Commission's White Paper on the strategy for a future chemicals policy, the global production of chemicals had increased from lmillion tonnes in 1930, to 400 million tones by the time the White Paper was published in 2001 (EC, 2001:4). The chemical industry in the EU produces about one third of total international chemical output and as such is collectively the largest chemical industry in the world, with an estimated turnover of some 556 billion in 2003 (for...
