Document type	Report
Subject	Risk Assessment and Management ; Occupational Safety

As part of the international standardisation work of the ISO Technical Committee (TC) 229 for Nanotechnologies, which began in 2005, a French standardisation committee on “Nanotechnologies” (AFNOR X457) was established, which led to the creation of a Working Group on “health, safety and environment” (HSE) standards. During its deliberations, the AFNOR standardisation committee expressed a wish to set up a project on the development of control bands based on the specific physico-chemical and toxicological properties of nanomaterials. Classifying nanomaterials in these hazard bands would ultimately provide producers and users of these substances with input data for risk management according to control levels, or “Control Banding”. At the ISO TC 229 (Nanotechnologies Technical Committee) plenary meeting in November 2008 in Shanghai, the French delegation requested that this project be included in the programme for standardisation work relating to the safety of nanomaterials. The Project Group 8 of the Working Group 3 (PG8/WG3) was officially approved by vote at the ISO on 3 March 2009. France has now been given three years to complete this pre-normative project.
In a letter dated 7 August 2008, the Ministry of Health, in agreement with the Ministries for the Environment and Labour, requested that ANSES conduct a collective expert appraisal specifically on Control Banding applied to manufactured nanomaterials. ANSES was asked to write a background document to which the HSE Working Group of the AFNOR Nanotechnologies Committee could refer in order to formalise a draft standard for submission to the ISO.
ANSES decided to investigate this request with the help of an Expert Rapporteur Group (GER). This group informed the Expert Committee (CES) on “Assessment of risks related to physical agents, new technologies and major developments” of the status of the solicited request. Following the presentation of the solicited request at the CES meeting on 23 September 2008, a call for experts was launched on the ANSES website between 25 May 2009 and 1 September 2009.
ANSES’s methodology will be adopted by AFNOR’s HSE Working Group in October 2010, which will use it to present its Control Banding project for validation at the AFNOR Standardisation Committee meeting. After approval by this committee, AFNOR will present the project to experts from the other ISO delegations, who will approve, modify or reject the work proposed.

Presentation of participants
CONTENTS
Abbreviations
Glossary
List of Tables
List of Figures

BACKGROUND, PURPOSE AND METHODS USED FOR DEALING WITH THE REQUEST
1. Background
2. Purpose of the request
3. Working methods: resources used and organisation

CONTROL BANDING
1. Introduction to the Control Banding method
1.1. Nanomaterials and occupational risk assessment
1.1.1. General obligation for occupational risk assessment
1.1.2. Assessment of chemical risks
1.1.3. Assessment of chemical risks in the particular case of nanomaterials
1.2. Alternative method known as Control Banding
1.2.1. Background
1.2.2. Presentation of the tool
1.3. Scope and limits of Control Banding
2. Control Banding process applied to manufactured nanomaterials
2.1. General points
2.2. Operating principle
2.2.1. Planning step
2.2.2. Implementation and operation step
2.2.3. Checking and corrective action step
2.2.4. Management review
3. Implementation of Control Banding
3.1. Gathering of information
3.2. Hazard bands
3.2.1. Definition
3.2.2. Method of allocation to a hazard band (Fig. 2)
3.2.2.1 Preliminary questions
3.2.2.2 Toxicological parameters and hazard bands
3.2.2.3 Increment factors
3.3. Exposure bands
3.3.1. Definition
3.3.2. Method of allocation to an exposure band
3.4. Allocation of risk control bands
4. Bibliography
4.1. Publications
4.2. Books, Reports, Opinions, Bulletins
4.3. Standards and References
4.4. Legislation and Regulations
4.5. Websites

ANNEXES
Annex 1: Solicited Request Letter
Annex 2: Table based on the hazard group allocation of the e-COSSH Essentials tool
Annex 3: Identification of volatility class for liquid products
Annex 4: Tracking of report updates

Report (2010)