Finland's cobalt dust occupational safety limits are more than twice as strict as China's and five times stricter than those in the US.
Industry & EmploymentFinland
- Omissions
- No source confirming China's occupational exposure limit for cobalt (reportedly a PC-TWA of 0.05 mg/m³ under GBZ 2.1) was found in the available searches, so the 'more than twice as strict as China' half of the claim remains unverified.
- The US comparison is selective: it uses only the federal OSHA PEL (0.1 mg/m³, dating from the 1970s). The US ACGIH TLV (0.02 mg/m³) is identical to Finland's limit and the NIOSH REL is 0.05 mg/m³, so the 'five times stricter than the US' framing depends entirely on which US limit is chosen.
- Finland's 0.02 mg/m³ corresponds to the transitional value set in the new EU-wide cobalt OEL (0.01 mg/m³ inhalable / 0.0025 mg/m³ respirable, with a six-year transitional limit of 0.02 mg/m³), meaning Finland's limit is not a national outlier but will actually be less strict than the incoming EU limit.
- The RIVM compilation of national OELs dates from 2022; the Finnish HTP value may have been revised since, and no Finnish primary source (Työterveyslaitos / HTP-arvot list) was retrieved.
- Sources
- PrimaryRIVM (Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) — Overview of national occupational exposure limits, report 2022-0123Table of national OELs for cobalt and inorganic compounds: 'Finland 0.02 As Co' (TWA-8h in mg/m³), alongside Denmark 0.01/0.02, Spain 0.02, Ireland 0.02, Poland 0.02, Sweden 0.02, Netherlands 0.02.
- PrimaryOSHA — Annotated Table Z-1 (Permissible Exposure Limits)'Cobalt metal, dust, and fume (as Co) | 7440-48-4 | 0.1 | 0.02 mg/m3 | 0.05 mg/m3' — OSHA PEL 0.1 mg/m³, with ACGIH value 0.02 mg/m³ and NIOSH value 0.05 mg/m³ listed in the shaded columns.
- PrimaryOSHA — Chemical Data: Cobalt metal, dust & fume (as Co), CAS 7440-48-4'PEL-TWA | 0.1 mg/m³ | REL-TWA | 0.05 mg/m³ | TLV-TWA | 0.02 mg/m³ (inhalable particulate matter)' — OSHA legal limit 0.1 mg/m³, NIOSH REL 0.05 mg/m³, ACGIH TLV 0.02 mg/m³.
- SecondaryForesight (useforesight.io) — New EU Exposure Limits For Cobalt, PAHs And 1,4-Dioxane'Cobalt and its inorganic compounds ... now face dual OELs: 0.01 mg/m³ (inhalable fraction) and 0.0025 mg/m³ (respirable fraction). A six-year transitional limit of 0.02 mg/m³ and 0.0042 mg/m³ applies.'