MET companies have already made strides to ensure that workers are protected, having gone beyond what has been proposed at a national level, including on lead. However, in this context, industry needs an evolution, not a revolution. When lowering limit values, we should be lowering them step by step, giving companies time to understand and adjust.

In the MET industries, burdensome occupational exposure limit values (OELs) have a more acute effect. In the MET industries, burdensome occupational exposure limit values (OELs) have a more acute effect. This is due to the fact that companies, including SMEs, are more likely to work with open systems, which makes it more difficult to comply with the proposed limit values. OELs need to be set in a way which reduces worker exposure, whilst still allowing SMEs to comply, and be adopted with the support of the corresponding scientific reports. The possibility to measure the exposure to a substance is extremely important for MET companies. We must ensure that when an OEL is put in place by the EU, we also see equivalent measurement methods EU wide for that OEL. If this is not the case, the method used to measure these limit values can often distort the level playing field.