Annals of Occupational Hygiene Advance Access originally published online on May 18, 2006
Annals of Occupational Hygiene 2006 50(5):441-444; doi:10.1093/annhyg/mel002
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The German Bitumen Forum—Cooperation in Partnership
Berufsgenossenschaft der Bauwirtschaft Postfach 600112, D-60331 Frankfurt, Germany
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +49 694705-213; E-mail: reinhold.ruehl{at}bgbau.de
Some substances are familiar only to those who work in certain industries. Bitumen is something that we have all seen applied in road repair, and we may be aware of less obvious uses. Studies on it are frequently reported in this journal, often with emphasis on polyaromatic hydrocarbon exposure (e.g. Burstyn et al., 2002; McClean et al., 2004a,b; Väänänen et al., 2005). In June 2006, bitumen is the subject of a conference in Dresden organized by ACGIH and a Commission of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (http://www.acgih.org/events/course/asphalt.htm). In Germany, the substance has become an example of cooperative venture between industry and regulators, and in this commentary we attempt to summarize what has taken place. One consequence is a wide-ranging study of exposure, a total of 1272 samples of vapours and aerosols of hot bitumen gathered between 1991 and 2005, which is reported in this issue (Rühl et al., 2006).
We will follow the European convention of using ‘asphalt’ to refer to a mixture of organic binder (‘bitumen’) and filler such as sand or gravel.
In Germany the legally binding standards are the limit values and classifications published in the TRGS (Technical rules for hazardous substances). For a long time, bitumen was classified in the TRGS as a suspected carcinogen, which meant that it was also automatically included in the DFG's annual ‘List of occupational exposure limit (MAK) and biological monitoring guidance (BAT) values’, where it was listed as a suspected carcinogen from 1977 onwards. However, it did not appear in the European Union carcinogen lists. In the mid-1990s this national carcinogenicity classification was examined, and also the exposure limits in air for vapours and aerosols released from work with hot bitumen.
The new German threshold limits for vapours and aerosols of bitumen were assigned in autumn 1996. The Hazardous Substances Committee (AGS) decided that the threshold limit of 15 mg m–3 for working outside would be reduced to 10 mg m–3 on 1 January 2000 unless measurement results were presented by 30 June 1999 which showed the reduction to be not feasible. The basis of the limits was not completely agreeable to all parties in 1996. The database was not satisfactory. Also, this limit was a technical guidance value—which reflected technical state-of-the-art in control, not primarily toxicological findings—and for a non-carcinogenic substance this also caused confusion.
THE BITUMEN FORUM
Resulting from this unclear situation, and following encouragement from the Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, the Bitumen Forum was formed at the beginning of 1997. All institutions whose members have interest in or are responsible for applications of bitumen or bituminous products are represented in the forum. These include producers of bitumen; producers of bituminous products such as asphalt, bitumen sheeting and foils, bitumen waterproofing and roof waterproofing, bituminous emulsions or solvent-based bituminous products; producers of car body sound deadening systems; and users of these products such as roofing contractors, road construction crews and other construction companies. In addition, the trade unions and the institutions for occupational safety and health are also represented in the Bitumen Forum (Fig. 1).
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In 2000 the Forum published a status report in which its origin, aims and work of the Forum are described in detail (‘Sachstands-Bericht’; www.GISBAU.de/bitumen.html).
The Forum coordinates an extensive programme in order to establish the best possible basis for assessing possible health hazards arising from handling bitumen (Rühl and Musanke, 2001). To a large extent the work is already successfully completed, those work activities includes:
- determination of the constituents of the different bitumen (Knecht et al., 2006);
- study of emission from car body sound deadening systems;
- measurement of vapours and aerosols arising of work with hot bitumen, reported in this issue (Rühl et al., 2006);
- the search for suitable protective gloves for use in handling bituminous emulsions and solvent-based bituminous products (Deutsche Bauchemie, 1999);
- supporting the German part of a European epidemiological study of the incidence of cancer in ‘bitumen workers’ (Boffetta et al., 2003a,b);
- study of possible absorption through the skin of bituminous constituents when dealing with cold bituminous products (Preuss et al., 2003);
- investigation into dermal absorption of certain constituents from vapours and aerosols released from hot bitumen (Knecht et al., 2001);
- selective occupational health monitoring of all mastic asphalt workers in Germany (Rumler et al., 2006);
- study of irritative and genotoxic effects of exposure to vapours and aerosols of bitumen during a work-shift (‘Humanstudy Bitumen’; Raulf-Heimsoth et al., 2006; Marczynski et al., 2006) including dermal exposure assessment methods (Van Wendel de Joode B et al., 2005);
- animal experiments on inhalation of vapours and aerosols of bitumen in order to determine any possible carcinogenic effects (Fuhst et al., 2001); and
- above all, promotion of low temperature asphalt. With this low temperature asphalt the laying temperature of rolled and mastic asphalt may be reduced by up to 50°C. As a result, the exposure when laying mastic asphalt is below
10 mg m–3 (Musanke et al., 2006). This shows the use of ‘low temperature asphalt’ to be an effective control strategy to reduce exposure.
However, a new German Ordinance on hazardous substances means that technically-based threshold limit values, as opposed to health-based ones, are no longer valid. This means, since January 2005 there is no limit value for vapours and aerosols of bitumen in Germany.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE BITUMEN FORUM
Through the collaboration of all concerned associations and institutions, the Bitumen Forum is an ideal ‘sector-specific solution’, as it is constituted to solve proposed specific occupational safety and health problems, not just in the area of hazardous substances (Rühl et al., 2002). The advantage of this strategy is that all parties know what is possible and what should be done. This type of sector-specific safety arrangement can be more effective than government intervention. However, a sector-specific safety arrangement is not a competitor to the Hazardous Substances Committee (AGS), which has the last word in the area of hazardous substances.
The Bitumen Forum does not have the limitations of a voluntary agreement within an industry of the type that has repeatedly been promoted in recent years in environmental politics. A study by the Zentrums für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW; Research Centre for European Industrial Research) made the following criticisms of purely voluntary agreements (Bergman et al., 1996):
- few groups are not properly involved;
- the real objective is often watered down;
- the agreements often lack mechanisms for supervision;
- violations of voluntary agreements often have no legal consequences;
- harsh economic measures are often avoided; and
- there is frequently a lack of commitment and enforcement.
The Bitumen Forum has taken these findings into consideration by ensuring that:
- all groups concerned are included;
- the objective—an improvement in the data on bitumen—is clearly spelt out;
- with many institutions that support the industry initiative, a withdrawal from the forum is more difficult, because implementation of the adopted measures would fall more heavily on the others;
- tough, cost-intensive aspects, such as the financing of studies costing several million euros, and considerable developments to reduce the laying temperature of asphalt have been adopted; and
- conclusions are made mandatory through regular publications and reports to AGS.
The Forum thus overcame the deficiencies discussed in the ZEW study (Bergmann et al., 1966) and provided an example of what might be done in future studies. Important points in this were as follows:
- involvement of the national authority, in this case AGS;
- adherence to a timetable; and
- documentation of what was achieved.
OUTLOOK
On the whole, the Bitumen Forum is an excellent example for future solutions to specific occupational safety and health problems. As an alliance for occupational safety and health the forum shows the way for similar strategies with other issues. The collaboration of the many institutions involved means that implementation of the agreed measures will have a more certain success.
But the most important part of the work of the Bitumen Forum is the future promotion of the low temperature asphalt, to be discussed in a forthcoming publication.
Received September 8, 2005; in final form December 15, 2005
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  R. RUHL, U. MUSANKE, K. KOLMSEE, R. PRIEss, G. ZOUBEK, and D. BREUER Vapours and Aerosols of Bitumen: Exposure Data obtained by the German Bitumen Forum Ann. Hyg., July 1, 2006; 50(5): 459 - 468. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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