On Friday 2nd of July, the School of Physics, National University of Ireland, Galway in collaboration with the Occupational Hygiene Society of Ireland, hosted a workshop on the Advanced REACH Tool (ART). ART is a new occupational exposure model to help industry comply with new European Registration Evaluation Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulations. REACH is considered a major landmark in European chemical policy with the major objective of ensuring that dangerous chemicals of concern are manufactured and used under conditions that are demonstrated to be safe for workers, consumers and the environment.

The ART was developed by a large European collaborative group, which includes Health and Safety Executive UK, Institute of Occupational Medicine, TNO Quality of Life, Holland, and several industry partners. Patricia Mc Donnell, under the supervision of Dr. Marie Coggins, School of Physics, is completing her PhD on ‘Development of ART for use in the Pharmaceutical Industry’. This research is funded by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). 

The objective of this workshop was to investigate the reliability of the ART, when used by occupational health and safety professionals, and also to look at how increased levels of training   affected their reliability. Eighteen occupational health and safety professionals working in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry from Europe and the USA participated in the workshop. The workshop was organised by Patricia Mc Donnell and Dr. Marie Coggins, National University of Ireland, Galway and Jody Schinkel from the research institute TNO Quality of Life.

Participants in the Advanced REACH workshop