2025
Volume 25, Number 3, pp. 79-81
Towards a significance index for chemical pollutants
Jeremy J. Ramsden
Department of Biomedical Research, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, The University of Buckingham, MK18 1EG, UK
and
Centre for Molecular Recognition, Collegium Basilea (Institute of Advanced Study), 4053 Basel, Switzerland
The strict regulation of highly toxic chemicals in commerce is oriented towards regular production and consumption. In the event of accident involving fire, hundreds of different chemicals may be generated. The goal of this paper is to suggest practical criteria for assessing the significance of such emissions. An illustrative approach uses workplace exposure limits to assess the toxic significance of emissions from a lithium-ion battery fire.
Keywords: accident, emissions, environment, fire, IDLH, lithium-ion cell, REACH, SVHC, toxicology, workplace exposure limits