New Occupational Exposure Limits for Hazardous Agents in the Workplace – Part 1: Chemical Hazardous Agents went into effect on April 1, 2020, when the previous version was terminated. The new document mainly adds:

* nine definitions related to occupational exposure limits i.e. OELs (e.g. occupational exposure, peak exposures, exposure level, etc.)
* OELs developed or revised in recent years for 28 kinds of chemical hazardous agents
   * a remark “sensitization” to 16 kinds of substances, a remark of “percutaneous absorption” to four kinds of substances, a remark of “carcinogen expressed by G1, G2A or G2B” to 14 kinds of substances
* 13 BELs (biological exposure limits) approved in recent years
Five definitions or terms are deleted including workplace, work site, total dust, respirable dust and aerodynamic diameter. In addition, the document adjusts eight chemical substances’ Chinese or English names. Other changes mainly involve exposure limits of nitric oxide merged into limits for nitrogen dioxide, monitoring and detection methods that are both improved, etc.