Risk & Policy Analysts (RPA) have been
asked by the Cobalt Institute (CI) to assess the compliance costs of potential EU-wide binding Occupational Exposure Limit Values (OELs) under the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (CMD) for cobalt and cobalt compounds.
The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect data and information that will underpin an assessment of the costs that are likely to be incurred as a result of the different OEL levels. This questionnaire is intended for all companies where exposure to cobalt and its compounds may take place.
All responses to this questionnaire will be treated in the strictest confidence and will only be used for the purposes of this study. In preparing our report for the Cobalt Institute (content from which, subsequently, may be shared by CI with external stakeholders, e.g. the European Commission), care will be taken to collate, aggregate, and ensure that specific responses cannot be linked to individual companies. Please note that by submitting a response you are providing consent for your information to be used in this study. An outline of RPA's privacy statement regarding personal data and GDPR can be found
here.
This questionnaire is intended for a single facility. If workers are exposed at multiple facilities, please complete the questionnaire for each facility or contact the study team.
It will take between approximately 15 and 45 min to answer the questionnaire depending on data availability and detail.
The deadline for completion of this questionnaire is
03 January 2020.
The questionnaire is in English.
If you have questions about the survey, please contact:
Graham Pattle +44 1508 528465.
If you have any questions about the impact assessment study in general, please contact:
Sophie Garrett +44 1508 528465.
Abbreviations used in the questionnaire
| CMD |
Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive 2004/37/EC |
| NACE |
NACE Revision 2, statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community[1].
[1] See here for more information (page 61 ff.)
|
| OEL |
The term Occupational Exposure Limit Value (OEL) refers to the limit of the time-weighted average (TWA) of the concentration in the air within the breathing zone of a worker, measured or calculated in relation to a reference period of eight hours. |
| RMM |
Risk Management Measure |
| 8-hour TWA |
8-hour Time-Weighted Average, measured in micrograms per cubic metre (µg Co/m3). The 8-hour TWA is an expression for the average exposure for a typical working day. It is calculated by summing up the concentrations (µg /m3) during different periods of a day (usually 8 hours). |
Scope of the study
Due to pre-regulatory activity initiated by the European Commission - DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, the cost-of-compliance study encompasses the following:
i) Cobalt and cobalt compounds that are under the scope of the CMD (legal and self-classifications for carcinogenicity and mutagenicity categories 1A and 1B)
ii) Cobalt compounds that do not have legal or self-classifications for carcinogenicity, are included due to industrial importance, practicalities of measuring cobalt in the workplace and a necessity to collect the relevant data to support future regulatory discussions
| Examples of cobalt compounds |
CAS number |
| Metal |
| Cobalt |
7440-48-4 |
| Cobalt carboxylates |
| Cobalt bis(2-ethylhexanoate) |
136-52-7 |
| Cobalt di(acetate) |
71-48-7; 6147-53-1 |
| Cobalt oxalate |
814-89-1 |
| Cobalt, borate 2-ethylhexanoate complexes |
91782-60-4 |
| Cobalt, borate neodecanoate complexes |
68457-13-6 |
| Cobalt, borate propionate complexes |
91782-61-5 |
| Cobalt (2+) propionate |
1560-69-6 |
| Cobalt (II) 4-oxopent-2-en-2-olate |
14024-48-7 |
| Neodecanoic acid, cobalt salt |
27253-31-2 |
| Resin acids and rosin acids, cobalt salts |
68956-82-1 |
| Stearic acid, cobalt salt |
13586-84-0 |
| Inorganic cobalt compounds |
| Cobalt carbonate |
513-79-1 |
| Cobalt dichloride |
7646-79-9; 7791-13-1 |
| Cobalt dihydroxide |
21041-93-0 |
| Cobalt dinitrate |
10141-05-6; 10026-22-9 |
| Cobalt hydroxide oxide |
12016-80-7 |
| Cobalt lithium dioxide |
12190-79-3 |
| Cobalt monoxide |
1307-96-6 |
| Cobalt sulphate |
10124-43-3; 10026-24-1 |
| Cobalt sulphide |
1317-42-6 |
| Tricobalt tetraoxide |
1308-06-1 |
Unit of measurement for exposure
Please use micrograms of cobalt/cubic metre (µg Co/m3) throughout the questionnaire. If for some reason this is not possible, please indicate the unit of measurement in question B5.