Regulations can vary depending on which country you live in. In March 2018, the International Standard Organization (ISO) released ISO 45001, a Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) standard which states that OH&S risks be addressed and controlled. In the US, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the governing body and has several standards that relate to occupational health hazards. A few of the standards are listed below:

• Hazard Communication Standard (1910.1200): Employers are required to have a written plan for their hazardous chemicals of which risk assessments need to be performed to identify the risk along with control recommendations.
• Respiratory Protection (1910:134): Employers must make a "reasonable estimate" to anticipate employee exposures to occupational respiratory hazards.
• Personal Protective Equipment (1926.102): Employers must conduct risk assessments of all occupational health hazards to determine the level of PPE needed to protect their employees.

Furthermore, there are specific OSHA standards that discuss the requirements related to a particular chemical hazard (e.g., Asbestos or Lead). All these standards require risk assessments to be conducted to evaluate the process or task, work practices, control methods, the types of material being used, and environmental conditions. Every time one of the variables change, then a new evaluation must be conducted again. Not every company will have the ability to comply due to the shortage of Industrial hygienists and resources. 

User Friendly

The intuitive interface guides any level of user through the task exposure risk assessment (TERA) process and requires minimal training which is important since there is a shortage of industrial hygienists and other resources.

Educational

While conducting a TERA, the interactive application is teaching the user.  In addition, having all the health hazard information, references and TERAs in one place makes it easy for anyone to find what they need to know to protect themselves from the health hazard.

Efficient

The unique characterization of data and the smart interactive algorithm within TERACHAIN™ allows all the required information to be pulled together to provide control recommendations which reduces time spent when compared to doing it manually.

Compliant

Once a health hazard has been characterized and a TERA is complete, the information can be shared with employees or with others to provide the required "Right to Know" information that is required to be in compliance with OSHA and ISO regulations.

To characterize health hazards, companies must recognize what to look for and how they might be exposed. This could be from the tasks they perform or by the processes they have within their operations. TERACHAIN™ is designed to help characterize the following health hazards:

• Chemical Hazards
• Physical Hazards
• Biological Hazards
• Ergonomic Hazards
• Psychosocial Hazards

Evaluation of occupational health hazards is achieved by comparing user information against defined parameters to determine a qualitative risk for the health hazard, the task, the work and environmental conditions which removes subjectivity and potential of misinterpretation in risk determination. Some of the following quantitative sampling data can also be linked to a specific TERA.

• Personal and Workplace Air Monitoring 
• Sounds Surveys and Noise Dosimetry
• Biological Exposure Monitoring
• Ergonomic Evaluations and Vibration Monitoring
• Ionizing and Non-Ionizing Radiation Monitoring

As information is populated into the TERACHAIN™ application, control recommendations will be generated saving time by not having to consult several resources. A color-coding system and a risk ranking number is given to allow the user to select the best option from any of the following hierarchy of controls as shown below.

• Elimination (Removal of Hazard)
• Substitution (Tasks, Chemicals)
• Engineering (Ventilation)
• Administrative (Time Restrictions)
• PPE (Respirators, Clothing and Gloves)

Helping every size of company is important to TERACHAIN™; therefore, there are several recordkeeping and dashboard options available to manage occupational health data confidentially and efficiently. Companies will have the choice of selecting any of the following items to add to their dashboards.

• Health Hazard Inventory
• TERA Inventory
• Employee Exposure Records
• Medical Records
  
• Training Records