The Nordic Expert Group

The Nordic Expert Group - a Nordic collaboration for production of criteria documents on chemicals for occupational exposure limits.


Nordic expert groupThe Nordic Expert Group for Criteria Documentation of Health Risks from Chemicals (NEG) consists of scientific experts from the Nordic countries representing different fields of science, such as toxicology, occupational hygiene and occupational medicine. The main task is to produce criteria documents to be used by the regulatory authorities of the Nordic countries as the scientific basis for setting occupational exposure limits (OELs) for chemical substances. Thus, the actual setting of an OEL is a national concern.

NEG is mainly financed by the Swedish Work Environment Authority and the Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. All countries contribute with scientific expertise. The documents, written in English, are published by the University of Gothenburg in the scientific serial Arbete och Hälsa. The documents are also available as pdf downloads via this website under Publications.

The decision to produce a document is mainly based on requests from the Nordic regulatory authorities. The availability of scientific data, recently published criteria documents and ongoing activities at the international level are also considered.

The responsibility of preparing a document is allocated to a scientist in one of the Nordic countries.

NEG has a bilateral co-operation with US NIOSH and the Dutch Expert Committee on Occupational Safety (DECOS).

New criteria document

Respirable crystalline silica, opens in a new window

Occupational chemical exposures in combination with unusual working hours, opens in a new window

Annual report 2023

NEG Annual report 2023, in Swedish (pdf, will open in a new window)

Publications

Ongoing documents

  • Fluorine, chlorine and bromine
  • Reduced ambient oxygen levels
  • Wood dust
  • Occupational chemical exposures and COPD
  • Portland cement
  • Respirable and inhalable dusts.
  • Styrene
  • Welding fumes

Author instructions

NEG strives towards a common procedure and format for the documents. Information and guidelines how to elaborate a NEG criteria document is found in the instructions below. 

Instructions to authors (pdf, will open in a new window)

Links

Nordic research institutes and regulatory authorities relating to the working environment

Sweden

Swedish Work Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljöverket)

Norway

National Institute of Occupational Health (Statens arbeidsmiljøinstitutt), (will open in a new window)

The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority (Arbeidstilsynet), (will open in a new window)

Denmark

National Research Centre for the Working Environment (Det Nationale Forskningscenter for Arbejdsmiljø), (will open in a new window)

The Danish Working Environment Authority (Arbejdstilsynet), (will open in a new window)

Finland

Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Työterveyslaitos), (will open in a new window)

Nordic OELs

Denmark (will open in a new window)

Finland (will open in a new window)

Norway (will open in a new window)

Sweden (will open in a new window)

Contacts to experts

Gunnar Johanson (chairman)

Institute of Environmental Medicine (will open in a new window)

Karolinska Institutet
Box 210
SE-171 77 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: +46 8 524 877 52
E-mail: gunnar.johanson(at)ki.se

Linda Schenk

Institute of Environmental Medicine (will open in a new window)

Karolinska Institutet
Box 210
SE-171 77 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: +46 524 879 68
E-mail: linda.schenk(at)ki.se

Mattias Öberg

Institute of Environmental Medicine (will open in a new window)

Karolinska Institutet
Box 210
SE-171 77 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: +46 524 885 05 
E-mail: mattias.oberg(at)ki.se

Anne Thoustrup Saber

National Research Centre for the Working Environment (will open in a new window)

Lersø Parkallé 105
DK-2100 København Ø
Denmark
Tel: +45 39 16 52 12
E-mail: ats(at)ami.dk

Piia Taxell

Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (will open in a new window)

PB 18
FI-00032 Arbetshälsoinstitutet
Finland
Tel: +358 30 474 2234
E-mail: piia.taxell(at)ttl.fi

Merete D. Bugge

National Institute of Occupational Health (will open in a new window)

PB 5330 Majorstuen
NO-0304 Oslo 
Norway
Tel: +47 23 19 53 83
E-mail: merete.bugge(at)stami.no

Helge Johnsen

National Institute of Occupational Health (will open in a new window)

PB 5330 Majorstuen
NO-0304 Oslo
Norway
Tel: +47 23 19 53 14
E-mail: helge.johnsen(at)stami.no

Secretariat

Anna-Karin Alexandrie and Britt-Marie Larsson (scientific secretary)

Swedish Work Environment Authority

Box 9082
SE-171 09 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: +46 10 730 90 84/+46 10 730 96 86
E-mail: anna-karin.alexandrie(at)av.se
E-mail: britt-marie.larsson(at)av.se

Last updated 2024-09-10