Abstract No:
1440
Abstract Type:
Professional Poster
Authors:
T Kondash1
Institutions:
1Insight Exposure & Risk Sciences Group, Boulder, CO
Presenter:
Therese Kondash
Insight Exposure & Risk Sciences Group
Description:
Rare earth elements (REEs) are critical to defense, energy, and advanced manufacturing, and U.S. mining, processing, and production are projected to expand in response to market demands and national security priorities. These activities present occupational health and safety challenges across the lifecycle that remain incompletely characterized. International operations have documented toxicological and radiological concerns, yet few exposure limits, toxicological benchmarks, or regulatory standards exist to guide safe practices.
This poster presents a narrative review of occupational health and safety information related to REE mining, processing, and production. Available data on hazards, exposure pathways, and regulatory frameworks are synthesized, with emphasis on critical data gaps. The review proposes a framework and key metrics to evaluate risks, prioritizing gaps by factors such as toxicity, production volumes, and exposure potential. Occupational exposure banding and related approaches are highlighted as practical strategies to inform worker protection until comprehensive guidance and standards are established.
Situation / Problem:
Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 metals with unique chemical and physical properties that enable wide application in defense, energy, and industrial technologies. The U.S. has classified REEs as critical minerals because of their importance for economic and national security and has allocated nearly $1 billion in funding to advance and scale domestic mining, processing, and manufacturing of critical minerals and materials supply chains. However, the occupational health and safety implications of these activities remain poorly defined.
International experience demonstrates that REE operations can present toxicological, radiological, and process-related hazards. Yet in the U.S., few occupational exposure limits, toxicological benchmarks, or regulatory standards exist to guide safe practice across the lifecycle. As domestic capacity scales, this lack of established guidance creates uncertainty in risk assessment, exposure control, and worker protection.
This poster addresses the problem by consolidating available knowledge, evaluating existing regulatory and guidance frameworks, and identifying gaps that must be addressed to ensure safe and sustainable REE production. The goal is to provide a structured foundation that OEHS professionals can apply in evaluating risks and developing protective strategies for the emerging U.S. REE industry.
Methods:
To evaluate occupational health and safety considerations across the REE lifecycle, a literature review was conducted. Sources included peer-reviewed publications, government documents, regulatory reports, toxicological profiles, and technical assessments. Databases reviewed encompassed PubMed, Google Scholar, OSHA's Occupational Chemical Database, the NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation archive, and U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) resources, along with publicly available international reports.
The review synthesized information on occupational hazards, exposure pathways, toxicological and radiological properties, existing regulatory and guidance frameworks, and identified data gaps relevant to REE mining, processing, and production. Findings were organized into categories reflecting the major stages of the REE lifecycle to provide clarity on where knowledge is established and where uncertainties remain.
Strengths of this approach include broad coverage of diverse source types and integration of both U.S. and international perspectives. Limitations include limited availability of direct exposure measurements for REE workers and reliance on surrogate or historical data from international operations. Despite these limitations, the synthesis provides a robust foundation for identifying priority areas for occupational exposure assessment, regulatory development, and risk management in domestic REE production.
Results / Conclusions:
The review identified over 400 relevant sources, with consistent evidence that rare earth element (REE) mining, processing, and production present distinct occupational health and safety concerns. Key issues include toxicological hazards such as pulmonary and systemic toxicity, radiological risks from certain isotopes, and uncertainties in exposure pathways during different lifecycle stages. Despite these concerns, regulatory benchmarks remain limited: few occupational exposure limits exist, and comprehensive toxicological reference values or guidance levels are largely absent.
To address these gaps, this poster presents a framework that organizes available knowledge across the REE lifecycle and prioritizes areas requiring further development. Gaps are categorized by the relative toxicity profiles of individual REEs and their compounds, the scale of usage and production volumes that influence potential worker exposure, and the likelihood of release and exposure across mining, processing, and production activities. This prioritization highlights where current knowledge is sufficient to inform worker protection and where significant uncertainties remain.
In the absence of established OELs, the application of occupational exposure banding approaches is proposed as a practical interim strategy to evaluate hazards, guide risk assessment, and inform protective measures until formal standards are developed. Overall, the results underscore the need for proactive integration of exposure monitoring, health surveillance, and risk management practices into U.S. REE operations. By framing current knowledge and prioritizing gaps, this work supports OEHS professionals in advancing protective strategies that can ensure worker safety and promote a sustainable and resilient domestic REE industry.
Core Competencies:
Work Environments, Occupations, and Industrial Processes
Secondary Core Competencies:
Chemical Hazards
Toxicology / Human Disease
Choose at least one (1), and up to five, (5) keywords from the following list. These selections will optimize your presentation's search results for attendees.
Radiation protection and monitoring
Safety
Toxicology
Based on the selected primary competency area of your proposal, select one group below that would be best suited to serve as a subject matter expert for peer review:
(Select one)
Mining Working Group
Based on the information that will be presented during your proposed session, please indicate the targeted audience practice level: (select one)
Professional: Professional is a job title given to persons who have obtained a baccalaureate or graduate degree in IH/OH, public health, safety, environmental sciences, biology, chemistry, physics, or engineering or who have a degree in another area that meets the standards set forth in the next section, Knowledge and Skill Sets of IH/OH Practice Levels, and has had 4 or more years of practice. One significant way of demonstrating professional competence is to achieve certification by a 3rd party whose certification scheme is recognized by the International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) such as the Board of Global EHS Credentialing (BGC).
Was this session organized by an AIHA Technical Committee, Special Interest Group, Working Group, Advisory Group or other AIHA project Team?
No
Are worker exposure data and/or results of worker exposure data analysis presented?
No
How will this help advance the science of IH/OH?
This review provides OEHS professionals with a structured foundation for evaluating occupational health and safety risks across the REE lifecycle. By synthesizing toxicological, radiological, and regulatory information, it establishes a baseline of current knowledge, prioritizes gaps by toxicity, production volume, and exposure potential, and proposes occupational exposure banding as an interim strategy to guide risk assessment and worker protection until formal standards are developed.
What level would you consider your presentation content geared towards?
Introductory: Introduces an elementary or basic subject area. Participant expected to have zero (0) to two (2) years of experience in industrial hygiene or OEHS, or a technical career path. Prerequisite: general knowledge.
Have you presented this information before?
No
I have read and agree to these guidelines.
Yes