Evaluation of Tier 1 Exposure Assessment Models under REACH (eteam) Project – Substudy Report on Between-User Reliability Exercise (BURE) and Workshop

When applying the Tier 1 assessment tools to an exposure situation, users must select options from several possible input parameters. Previous studies have suggested that results from exposure assessments using expert judgement can vary considerably between assessors. In addition, similar results were observed for use of exposure tools, where different users may obtain different results based on similar information. This study aimed to investigate the between-user reliability for the Tier 1 tools. Two assessment methods were used to evaluate consistency between users in making these input choices. A remote-completion exercise and focus group were used to identify and evaluate tool parameters and other factors potentially associated with between-user variability, for example users’ employment sector, experience level and English language ability.