OELS 6 Consultation

A consortium comprising RPA Risk & Policy Analysts (United Kingdom), RPA Europe (Italy), RPA Europe Prague (Czech Republic) COWI (Denmark), FoBiG Forschungs- und Beratungsinstitut Gefahrstoffe (Germany), EPRD (Poland) and Force Technology (Denmark) has been contracted by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion to support possible amendments of Directive 2004/37/EC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens, mutagens or reprotoxic substances at work, also known as the CMRD. Specifically, the work involves assessing the impacts of establishing Occupational Exposure Limit values (OELs) for the following substances:

• cobalt and inorganic cobalt compounds
• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
• isoprene
• 1,4-dioxane

In addition, to assess the impacts of including welding fume into Annex I of the CMRD.

The purpose of the questionnaires is to collect data and information that will underpin the assessment. Please click on and complete one or more of the following questionnaires, based on your activities:

• Online questionnaires intended for companies where exposure may take place.
  • cobalt and inorganic cobalt compounds
  • polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
  • isoprene
  • 1,4-dioxane
  • welding fume
• Word Questionnaire intended for Member State Authorities
• Word Questionnaire intended for occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals

These company questionnaires are intended for a single facility. If workers are exposed at multiple facilities, please complete a questionnaire for each facility or contact the study team. These questionnaires are available in English, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish. You can download the survey as a pdf – please however complete the questionnaire online.

All responses to these questionnaires will be treated in the strictest confidence and will only be used for the purposes of this study. In preparing our reports for the Commission (which, subsequently, may be published), care will be taken to ensure that specific responses cannot be linked to individual companies.

A supporting letter from the European Commission is available here and the privacy statement is here.

The deadline for completion of the questionnaire has been extended to 27 March 2023

You are welcome to answer the questions in any official language of the European Union. If you prefer to be interviewed in your language or if you have questions about the survey, please contact: OELs6@rpaltd.co.uk

If you have any questions about the impact assessment study in general, please contact: OELs6@rpaltd.co.uk