Glossary
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Occupational exposure limit (OEL) The maximum legally allowed external
exposure of an employee to a substance at the workplace. Derived on the basis of
information on the substance’s hazardous properties.
Opinion As applied in the EU, an opinion is a nonbinding statement issued by EU
government institutions and committees to clarify their viewpoint on an issue.
Persistence A measure of the time required for the biological and/or chemical
degradation of a chemical in the environment.
Precautionary principle According to the 1992 Rio Declaration, the precautionary principle states, “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack
of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective
measures to prevent environmental degradation.”
Process risk assessment A method containing six steps (from scope and system
definition to risk management) that can be used to identify, evaluate, and manage
critical risks within chemical processes.
Product risk assessment A method containing five steps (from hazard identification to risk management) that can be used to identify, characterize, and manage the
hazardous properties of and exposure to a chemical product.
Protected good Valued subjects, resources, or conditions such as humans, the
environment, and property.
Protection layer A method within functional process safety used to define the
order (or sequence) in which safeguards are implemented in the system.
Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) A quantitative relationship
between a biological activity (such as toxicity) and a descriptor(s) of chemical
properties used to predict the activity. QSAR models are regression models used to
predict the biological activity of a chemical often through analysis of its structural
features (e.g., functional groups, molecular shape). They can be used to help screen
chemicals for potential toxicity.
REACH EU regulation on industrial chemicals; the acronym stands for the
Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (Regulation
(EC) No 1907/2007). The underlying principle of the regulation is to place the
burden of generating data needed to prove a substance is safe on the producer or
importer of the substance.
Recommendation As applied in the EU, a recommendation is a nonbinding
statement that serves as a way for a government entity to make its views on an
issue known.
325
Occupational exposure limit (OEL) The maximum legally allowed external
exposure of an employee to a substance at the workplace. Derived on the basis of
information on the substance’s hazardous properties.
Opinion As applied in the EU, an opinion is a nonbinding statement issued by EU
government institutions and committees to clarify their viewpoint on an issue.
Persistence A measure of the time required for the biological and/or chemical
degradation of a chemical in the environment.
Precautionary principle According to the 1992 Rio Declaration, the precautionary principle states, “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack
of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective
measures to prevent environmental degradation.”
Process risk assessment A method containing six steps (from scope and system
definition to risk management) that can be used to identify, evaluate, and manage
critical risks within chemical processes.
Product risk assessment A method containing five steps (from hazard identification to risk management) that can be used to identify, characterize, and manage the
hazardous properties of and exposure to a chemical product.
Protected good Valued subjects, resources, or conditions such as humans, the
environment, and property.
Protection layer A method within functional process safety used to define the
order (or sequence) in which safeguards are implemented in the system.
Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) A quantitative relationship
between a biological activity (such as toxicity) and a descriptor(s) of chemical
properties used to predict the activity. QSAR models are regression models used to
predict the biological activity of a chemical often through analysis of its structural
features (e.g., functional groups, molecular shape). They can be used to help screen
chemicals for potential toxicity.
REACH EU regulation on industrial chemicals; the acronym stands for the
Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (Regulation
(EC) No 1907/2007). The underlying principle of the regulation is to place the
burden of generating data needed to prove a substance is safe on the producer or
importer of the substance.
Recommendation As applied in the EU, a recommendation is a nonbinding
statement that serves as a way for a government entity to make its views on an
issue known.