148b - Added values of (low cost) sensors in occupational hygiene practice

Abstract One of the challenges occupational hygienists face is to propose effective control measures that substantially reduce exposure to dangerous substances to acceptable levels for all employees, while being cost-effective at the same time. Conventional exposure measurement methods provide average exposure levels over the measurement period. Only detailed observations performed by the occupational hygienist may identify the prominent sources or activities that cause these average exposure levels. Besides that, conventional measurements are expensive and therefore in general a relatively low number of measurements is taken, capturing a relatively large variation in exposure, and results are only available after a long time; all together hampering direct and adequate exposure reduction measures. (Low cost) sensors hold a promise to provide more and more informative data to feed into more effective control strategies. Even though sensors are not as accurate as conventional measurements, their high time resolution provides very useful insights. Together with a groups of occupational hygienists, we explored added values of (low cost) sensors to the current approaches and what they need to benefit from these added values.