Each year, the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) publishes a list of substances for which they have set new or revised Threshold Limit Values (TLVs). A TLV is an exposure limit that is the suggested maximum allowed airborne concentration for a particular substance where nearly all workers are believed to experience no adverse health effects over a working lifetime. TLVs may be an 8-hour time weighted average, short-term exposure limit, or ceiling limit.

Prior to the adoption of the new or revised ACGIH TLVs that are published each year as BC occupational exposure limits (OELs), WorkSafeBC reviews and stakeholders are consulted on potential implementation issues. WorkSafeBC’s Board of Directors (BOD) then decides which of the new or revised ACGIH TLVs are to be adopted as BC OELs. The existing OELs for these substances continue to be in effect until the BOD makes the decision to adopt the ACGIH TLVs as BC OELs.

In order to retain the existing BC OELs, the substances are added to the Table of Occupational Exposure Limits for Excluded Substances in Prevention Policy R5.48-1.

The ACGIH has published the 2015 new or revised TLVs. The following substances, for which there are new or revised ACGIH TLVs, have been added to the Table of Occupational Exposure Limits for Excluded Substances in Prevention Policy R5.48-1 on May 1, 2015. The current BC OELs are maintained for the substances below until such time as the BOD makes a decision on the adoption of their respective TLVs.

The ACGIH has also revised the TLVs for acetone and phenyl isocyanate. These substances are already listed in the Table of Occupational Exposure Limits for Excluded Substances and the current BC OELs are maintained.