Do you know, You are handling

hazardous substances daily even you are

not at work? For example; medicines,
paint and ink, nail polish, and nail polish
remover, cleaning products, pesticides,
detergents, gas cylinders, diesel, petrol
and other flammable liquids etc.
Hazardous substances enter the body by
four main routes: inhalation, ingestion,
absorption through the skin and
injection through the skin. The body’s
defense mechanisms protect it from the
entry of hazardous substances and from
their harmful effects.
Assessing risk from exposure to hazardous
substances is a six-step process: identify the
hazardous substance present and the people
who might potentially be exposed, gather
information about the substance, evaluate the
health risk, identify any controls needed and
implement them, record the assessment and
action taken, and review.
Product labels, guidance notes and safety data
sheets are all relevant sources of information
in the assessment process.
It is sometimes necessary to monitor the
concentration of a hazardous substance in
the air in order to assess the extent of worker
exposure to ensure that legal limits are not
exceeded.
 There are four main routes of entry for hazardous substances into the body:
• Inhalation – the substance is breathed in
through the nose and mouth, down into the
lungs. This is a significant route of entry for
many hazardous substances in the gas, vapor,
mist, fume or dust form. People have to
breathe, so if the hazardous substance is
present in the air around them, then it will be
inhaled.
• Ingestion – the substance is taken in
through the mouth, swallowed down into
the stomach and then moves on through
the digestive system. This is a less
significant route of entry since people are
unlikely to deliberately swallow a
hazardous substance. Ingestion usually
occurs by cross-contamination (from the
hands) or by mistake.
• Absorption through the skin – the
substance passes through the skin, into the
tissues beneath and then into the
bloodstream. Only some substances (e.g.
organic solvents) are able to permeate the
skin in this way, but when they can, this
route can be very significant since any skin
contact allows absorption.
Injection through the skin – the substance
passes through the skin barrier either by
physical injection (e.g. a needle-stick injury
or animal bite) or through damaged skin
(e.g. cuts and grazes). This route is
significant for many biological agents (e.g.
the hepatitis virus).
Inhalable and Respirable Dust
Dust can be inhaled through the nose and mouth,
but not all dust will travel down deep into the lungs.
Dust is made up of small particles of various
diameters. Large dust particles are filtered out by
the lungs’ defence mechanisms before they can
travel down into the lungs; smaller particles are not
trapped by these defences and will travel deep into
the lungs.
These two types of dust are called:
• Inhalable dust – particles of all sizes that
can be inhaled into the nose and mouth.
• Respirable dust – particles less than 7
microns (7/1,000 mm) in diameter that can
travel deep into the lungs on
inhaled breath.
In the upcoming training session, I will
highlight the assessment of health Risks,
Factors to consider when carrying out an
assessment of hazardous substance
exposure, and the existing defense
mechanisms in the body against hazardous
substances.