How can multi-national occupational studies support policy making in Europe? Experiences from HBM4EU and PARC occupational studies

Providing policy relevant data on chemical exposures was a major aim of the EU biomonitor-ing initiative, HBM4EU. Similarly, the recently launched “Partnership for the risk assessment of chemicals” (PARC) emphasizes the relevance of the research findings to regulatory deci-sion making. Occupational biomonitoring studies performed under HBM4EU were focused on HBM4EU priority substances with specific regulatory relevance. Chromates and diisocya-nate studies were developed since these substances are of high concern for workers and to support regulatory measures under both EU chemicals regulation (REACH) and occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation. E-waste study was targeted to support European circular economy strategies and identify issues e.g. under OSH legislation. Based on the results of the chromates study, we drew several policy relevant conclusions which support the future up-dating of occupational exposure limits and the development of monitoring and risk man-agement practices in industry. A survey to policy makers on the usefulness of the study re-sults gave us confidence. We emphasise the importance of early and continued engagement of policy makers to ensure the usability of the results. Early communication with regulators of the anticipated benefits and formatting outputs appropriately are important and have been considered and improved within the EU PARC project.