Assessment of individual exposure to engineered nanomaterials by means of personal monitors and samplers – nanoIndEx

nanoIndEx will determine personal exposure to MNMs and thoroughly investigate the possibilities of personal monitors and samplers. Those samplers and monitors, identified as suitable for assessing personal exposure to MNMs will be scrutinized in laboratory and field studies to study their accuracy and the comparability of the different samplers and monitors and to search for possible correlations between metrics. All samplers and monitors that qualified during the lab-studies will be used in field studies in at least ten different nanotechnology workplaces. These field surveys will provide information on the field applicability and comparability of the instruments and generate a large data set on personal exposure to MNMs that will be provided to existing exposure databases. The experiences from the laboratory and field studies will feed into standard operation procedures and guidance documents on the proper use of the monitors and samplers and for data evaluation. All these documents will be made publicly available and distributed to stakeholders as well as national and international harmonization and standardization activities.