Investigation of the determinants of dermal exposure to enable development of a Dermal Advanced REACH Tool (DART)

The aim of this study was to conduct experiments to collect data that can be used to fill in some of the knowledge gaps about dermal exposure to help with the development of dermal exposure modelling tools including the Dermal Advanced REACH Tool.

The project involved a series of targeted laboratory experiments to study:

the effect of viscosity on dermal exposure in relation to different pathways of exposure (deposition, surface contact and immersion);
the effect of dustiness on dermal exposure in relation to different pathways of exposure (deposition, surface contact and immersion); and
the effect of dermal sampling methods on results of the dermal exposure measurements.
In these experiments, the hands of four volunteers were exposed to non-toxic substances; powders with varying dustiness (calcium acetate, zinc oxide and Epsom salt) and liquids of varying viscosity (three glycerol/water solutions containing 20%, 50% and 85% glycerol).

This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.