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Binding assessment criteria for concentrations of hazardous substances in the air are enacted in Germany by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, BMAS) on the basis of a proposal from the German Committee on Hazardous Substances (Ausschuss für Gefahrstoffe, AGS). However, the European Union also specifies limit values for inhalation exposure at workplaces. The limit values for air concentrations shown in the tables are Binding Occupational Exposure Limits Values (BOELV) of the EU. They must be adopted by the Member States as minimum standards, and in Germany, they have been transposed into national law through Section 7 (11) of the German Hazardous Substances Ordinance (GefStoffV). These limit values are not occupational exposure limits (OELs) within the meaning of Section 2 (8) of the German Hazardous Substances Ordinance, which identify the concentrations at which substances are generally not expected to induce adverse acute or chronic effects on health. When defining a BOELV, the EU also takes socio-economic factors into account.
The binding assessment standards of the German Committee on Hazardous Substances (AGS) are defined on the basis of purely scientific, health-based or risk-based criteria and without consideration of socio-economic factors. In general, this also applies to the implementation of BOELVs in national law. Accordingly, BOELVs are adopted as binding assessment standards in various ways: Either as health-based occupational exposure limits in the Technical Rules for Hazardous Substances (TRGS) 900 or as risk-based concentrations (acceptable/tolerable concentration) in TRGS 910. For most EU BOELVs, national binding standards were already or are now in place at the same level or a lower level than the EU BOELVs. There are only a few instances in which existing occupational exposure limits (e.g. propylene oxide) had to/will have to be lowered to the EU BOELV. In order to comply with the EU BOELVs, which have been transposed into national law in the form of acceptable and tolerable concentrations, the requirements of TRGS 910 must be implemented.
Lead, wood dust and o-toluidine are the only hazardous substances for which there are currently no science-based proposals for a binding assessment standard from the German Committee on Hazardous Substances (AGS). The occupational exposure limits listed in TRGS 900 for these substances result exclusively from the formal implementation in national law. Use of o-toluidine is only permitted in closed systems (German Hazardous Substances Ordinance Annex II, No. 6), as, even with exposure levels of below 0.5 mg/m3, there is a risk of occupational cancer.
Substances with EU binding occupational exposure limit values (as of July 2022):
| Substance CAS number | EU directive | EU limit value | National assessment criteria | Source |
| Acrylamide 79-06-1 | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 0.1 mg/m3 | AC: 0.07 mg/m3 TC: 0.15 mg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| Acrylonitrile 107-13-1 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 1 mg/m3 | AC: 0.26 mg/m3 TC: 2.6 mg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| Arsenic acid and its salts, as well as inorganic arsenic compounds | 2004/37/EC 2019/983 | 0.01 mg/m3 (IF) | AC: 0.00083 mg/m3 (IF) TC: 0.0083 mg/m3 (IF) | TRGS 910 |
| Asbestos | 2009/148/EC | 100.000 F/m3 | AC: 10000 F/m3 TC: 100000 F/m3 | TRGS 517, 519, 910 |
| Benzene 71-43-2 | 2004/37/EC 2022/431 | 0.66 mg/m3 | AC: 0.2 mg/m3 TC: 1.9 mg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| Beryllium and inorganic beryllium compounds | 2004/37/EC 2019/983 | 0.0002 mg/m3 (IF) | AGW: 0.00006 mg/m3 (RF) 0.00014 mg/m3 (IF) | TRGS 900 |
| Bisphenol A: 4,4'-propane-2,2-diyldiphenol 80-05-7 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 2 mg/m3 (IF) | AGW: 5 mg/m3 (IF) | TRGS 900 |
| Bromoethylene (vinyl bromide) 593-60-2 | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 4.4 mg/m3 | AGW: 4.4 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| 1,3-Butadiene 106-99-0 | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 2.2 mg/m3 | AC: 0.5 mg/m3 TC: 5 mg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| Cadmium and its inorganic compounds | 2004/37/EC 2019/983 | 0.001 mg/m3 (IF) | AC: 0.00016 mg/m3 (RF) TC: 0.001 mg/m3 (IF) | TRGS 910 |
| Carbon monoxide 630-08-0 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 23 mg/m3 | AGW: 35 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| Chromium (VI) compounds | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 0.005 mg/m3 (as chromium) | 0.001 mg/m3 (IF) | TRGS 910 |
| Diesel engine exhaust emissions | 2004/37/EC 2019/130 | 0.05 mg/m3 (EC) | AGW: 0.05 mg/m3(EC) | TRGS 900 |
| N,N-Dimethylacetamide 127-19-5 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 36 mg/m3 | AGW: 18 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| N,N-Dimethylformamide 68-12-2 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 15 mg/m3 | AGW: 15 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| Epichlorohydrine 106-89-8 | 2004/37/EC 2019/130 | 1.9 mg/m3 | AC: 1.9 mg/m3 TC: 8 mg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| 1,2-Epoxypropane (propylene oxide) 75-56-9 | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 2.4 mg/m3 | AGW: 2.4 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| 2-Ethoxyethanol 110-80-5 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 8 mg/m3 | AGW: 7.6 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| 2-Ethoxyethyl acetate 111-15-9 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 11 mg/m3 | AGW: 10.8 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| Ethylene dibromide 106-93-4 | 2004/37/EC 2019/130 | 0.8 mg/m3 | AGW: 0.8 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| Ethylene dichloride 107-06-2 | 2004/37/EC 2019/130 | 8.2 mg/m3 | AC: 0.8 mg/m3 TC: 4 mg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| Ethylene oxide 75-21-8 | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 1.8 mg/m3 | AC: 0.2 mg/m3 TC: 2 mg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| Formaldehyde 50-00-0 | 2004/37/EC 2019/983 | 0.37 mg/m3 | AGW: 0.37 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| Hardwood dusts | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 2 mg/m3 (IF) | 2 mg/m3 (IF) | TRGS 553 |
| Hydrazine 302-01-2 | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 0.013 mg/m3 | AC: 2.2 µg/m3 TC: 22 µg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| Lead and inorganic lead compounds | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 0.15 mg/m3 | TRGS 505 | |
| Mercury and divalent anorganic mercury compounds including mercury oxide and mercury chloride (measured as mercury) | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 0.02 mg/m3 | AGW: 0.02 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| 2-Methoxyethanol 109-86-4 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 1 ppm | AGW: 3.2 mg/m3 (1 ppm) | TRGS 900 |
| 2-Methoxyethyl acetate 110-49-6 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 1 ppm | AGW: 9.9 mg/m3 (1 ppm) | TRGS 900 |
| 4,4′-Methylene-bis(2-chloroaniline) 101-14-4 | 2004/37/EC 2019/983 | 0.01 mg/m3 | AC: 10 μg/m3 (IF) TC: 410 μg/m3(IF) | |
| 4,4′-Methylenedianiline 101-77-9 | 2004/37/EC 2019/130 | 0.08 mg/m3 | AC: 0.07 mg/m3 TC: 0.7 mg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone 872-50-4 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 40 mg/m3 | AGW: 82 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| Nickel compounds | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 0.01 mg/m3 (RF) 0,05 mg/m3 (IF) | AC: 0,006 mg/m3 (RF) TC: 0.006 mg/m3 (RF) AGW: 0.03 mg/m3 (IF) | TRGS 910 TGRS 900 |
| Nitrobenzene 98-95-3 | 2004/37/EG 2022/431 | 1 mg/m3 | AGW: 0.51 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
| 2-Nitropropane 79-46-9 | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 18 mg/m3 | AC: 0.18 mg/m3 TC: 1.8 mg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| Refractory ceramic fibres | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 0.3 F/ml | AC: 0.01 F/ml TC: 0.1 F/ml Aluminium silicate fibres | TRGS 910 |
| Respirable Crystalline silica dust | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 0.1 mg/m3 | 0.05 mg/m3 | TRGS 559 |
| o-Toluidine 95-53-4 | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 0.5 mg/m3 | Manufacture/use only in enclosed systems AGW: 0.5 mg/m3 | GefStoffV, Annex II (6) TRGS 900 |
| Trichloroethylene 79-01-6 | 2004/37/EC 2019/130 | 54.7 mg/m3 | AC: 33 mg/m3 TC: 33 mg/m3 | TRGS 910 |
| Vinyl chloride 75-01-4 | 2004/37/EC 2017/2398 | 2.6 mg/m3 | AGW: 2.6 mg/m3 | TRGS 900 |
AC = acceptable concentration
TC = tolerable concentration
EC = elemental carbon
RF = respirable fraction
IF = inhalable fraction
F = fibres
AGW = occupational exposure limit (GefStoffV Section 2 (8))
Directive 2004/37/EG
Amending directives for directive 2004/37/EG:
Division 1: Information technology, Risk management
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