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Enzymes which present as 100% pure crystalline enzyme and are known to be very powerful respiratory sensitisers for some types of enzymes in exposed workers.
This sensitisation can and has led to extreme adverse health impacts such as hospitalisations and pulmonary oedema of production workers.
These enzyme products have a specific sensitiser notation whereby a specific immune response can occur on further exposure, eliciting an asthmatic-like reaction which can be potentially life threatening. This is likely the major reason that currently, Safe Work Australia (SWA) have a proposed the change to half the current peak limitation and most interestingly an addition of a 2-hour TWA limit as an exposure standard.

The occupational hygiene assessment strategy needed within this specific manufacturing industry will be discussed, as well as the onsite limitations, sampling techniques and the ceiling occupational exposure limit which poses multiple challenges for the occupational hygienist. As we know, the typical peak limitation of a particular substance should be determined over the shortest analytically practicable period of time which is usually 15 minutes or less. The sample analysis methodology is bespoke, with limited analytical laboratories in Australia for enzyme activity analysis with measurement in Novo Protease Units (NPU).
This presentation will consist of a description of an investigation of enzymes, a summary of the findings from these investigations, discussion, conclusions and recommendations provided for the ongoing management of these types of enzymes products. 

Biorisk management and OEHS professionals often do not speak in the same terms or understand the same risks about IT systems, networks, and devices as cybersecurity professionals. This lack of a shared language can make it difficult for the groups to talk with one another and come to the same understanding of what is needed to protect research assets (both physical biological samples and related data) from theft, loss, or misuse. Illustratively, the process that biorisk management professionals use to perform risk assessments involves putting into place mitigation measures for identified risks as a critical step of the risk assessment process, whereas the goal of an IT systems risk assessment is to identify and communicate risk, not directly manage the risks. There is actually a separate IT risk management framework that seeks to mitigate potential risks and threats to assets. This session will discuss the differences between IT systems and biosafety risk assessment processes and how to identify relevant threats and vulnerabilities. It will also discuss common biosecurity considerations that are familiar to laboratory and biorisk management professionals, that have a cyber- component, that can be leveraged to facilitate multidisciplinary discussions, including awareness training, physical access control (badge readers, biometrics, PINs, etc.), data access control (least privilege access, data storage devices, etc.), incident response procedures, and more. 

Effectively estimating and managing risks associated with chemical exposures in the workplace requires more than just comparing field exposure measurements to occupational exposure limits. Industrial hygienists may need to rapidly respond or may not be able to collect the measurements needed to make risk-based decisions on how to best protect the health of workers. When used correctly, modeling is a powerful tool for emergency response and workplace process assessments to estimate emissions and worker exposures to chemicals that can complement field measurements. During this case study, we will discuss the use of AIHA's IHMOD™ 2.0 software to estimate exposures and emissions of chemicals by means of various example scenarios. We will cover how to choose and use the various model types including well-mixed room, well-mixed room with backpressure, well-mixed room with purging, turbulent eddy diffusion, two-zone (i.e., near field/far field), and near-/mid-field plume models. This presentation is full of examples that will help you learn how to apply this tool to scenarios in your workplace.