Nanomaterial safety

Managing risk is part of everyday life and particularly crucial to businesses working at the cutting edge with novel materials and processes, where a need exists for reassurance that things are being done right, safely, and within the law, to minimise the barriers to market success and consumer acceptance.  Every employer and employee has duty-of-care responsibilities to assess and manage the risks presented in the workplace.

Established as a Centre of Excellence in Nanosafety at the IOM, SAFENANO provides industry, academia and governments with independent authoritative expertise and state-of-the-art facilities to enable effective risk management.

Our key services in relation to nanomaterial safety include:

Nanomaterial Risk Assessment

• Risk assessments through integration of hazard and exposure evaluations, with recommendations on safe practice and appropriate control measures;
• Reviews to scope, assess and interpret evidence and emerging issues;
• Evidence appraisal to inform policy, guidance and standards development;
• Development of in-house exposure limits;
• Bespoke training to understand and manage risks.

Regulatory Support

• Identifying and scoping international regulatory requirements (including reporting schemes) within key target markets;
• REACH compliance management, including substance identification, development of registration dossiers and chemical safety reports, development of testing proposals, exposure assessment and identification of exposure scenarios;
• Developing toxicological profiles for hazard classification and establishing Derived No Effect Levels (DNELs) and Risk Characterisation Ratios (RCRs) for human exposures;
• Classification and labelling of substances and mixtures according to CLP/GHS.

Safety Data Sheet Preparation

• Preparation of (extended)-safety data sheets (SDS) for substances and mixtures which are consistent with current best practice guidance for nanomaterials;
• Identification and critical appraisal of information to fill data gaps.

Material Characterisation

• Instrumental and microscopic analysis to provide hazard-relevant information on: number- and volume-rated particle size distributions (as per the EU Definition of a Nanomaterial), size-weighted respirable fractions (SWeRFs), dustiness, aerodynamic equivalent and lateral size of platelet-like materials, PAH and trace metal content.