I am looking it develop a tool to guide decision making for fitting or not fitting LEV to a number of CNC machining centers.

Does anybody have a tool already? What key factors should be considered and how would you rate the risk of inhalation of MWF (the HSE decline to publish a WEL).

Professionals not working in the UK how do your authorities (HSE equivalent) view the need for LEV to be fitted.

thanks for all help forthcoming

From EH40/2005:

6 The absence of a substance from the list of WELs does not indicate that it is safe. For these substances, exposure should be controlled to a level to which nearly all the working population could be exposed, day after day at work, without any adverse effects on health. 7 As part of the assessment required under regulation 6 of COSHH, employers should determine their own working practices and in-house standards for control of exposure. In some cases, there may be sufficient information available for employers to set an ‘in-house’ working standard, eg from manufacturers and suppliers of the substance, from publications of industry associations, and from occupational medicine and hygiene journals.

There are plenty metal WEL's listed in EH40 e.g. Cadmium 8 hour 0.025 mg/m3

The Gestis database has the following: Oil mist, metal working fluids

UK limit 8 hours 1mg/m3 / Eire limit 8 hours 0.2mg/m3 inhalable fraction

Not all Metal Working Fluids are identical their formulation concentration varies between manufacturers as do the contained substances.

ERGO you need to reference Sections 3 & 8 of the UK REACH compliant Safety Data Sheet to determine what substances are present and what values apply to their contained substances.

As stated, the absence of a WEL does not mean it is safe. Also, the SDS will generally only list those constituents that have been assigned a Hazard Statement. There are literally thousands ot substances that have no Hazard Statement, but where exposure, both respiratory and dermal, can initiate damage to health. Some of these have been found in metalworking fluids. Keep in mind that LEV is not solely to prevent inhalation exposure. Airborne spray settling on the skin, particularly the sensitive area that is the face, can result in both irritant and allergic contact dermatitis. Also, there is evidence that chemicals which have a high ability to be absorbed into and through the skin can initiate health reactions at levels well below the WEL.