Short-term exposure limit

A short-term exposure limit (STEL) is the acceptable average exposure over a short period of time, usually 15 minutes as long as the time-weighted average is not exceeded.
STEL is a term used in <a href="/facts/Exposure_assessment/WmnqSNdn">exposure assessment</a>, <a href="/facts/Occupational_health/ko1IeS92">occupational health</a>, <a href="/facts/Industrial_hygiene/yUXcpYtY">industrial hygiene</a> and <a href="/facts/Toxicology/L6XHRIJH">toxicology</a>. The STEL may be a <a href="/facts/Law/luzxWkg0">legal</a> limit in the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> for exposure of an employee to a <a href="/facts/Chemical_substance/EWcXU41d">chemical substance</a>. The <a href="/facts/Occupational_Safety_and_Health_Administration/dCGbW5Ax">Occupational Safety and Health Administration</a> (U.S. OSHA) has set OSHA-STELs for <a href="/facts/1%2c3-butadiene/j9W2LxGv">1,3-butadiene</a>, <a href="/facts/Benzene/Fguue7nr">benzene</a> and <a href="/facts/Ethylene_oxide/4WDVKX2r">ethylene oxide</a>. For chemicals, STEL assessments are usually done for 15 minutes and expressed in <a href="/facts/Parts_per_million/PozRuoLM">parts per million</a> (ppm), or sometimes in <a href="/facts/Milligram/lU2zbPk8">milligrams</a> per cubic meter (mg/m3).
The <a href="/facts/American_Conference_of_Governmental_Industrial_Hygienists/xtRc73eQ">American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists</a> publishes a more extensive list of STELs as <a href="/facts/Threshold_limit_value/rD0EE0jN">threshold limit values</a> (TLV-STEL).

Short-term exposure limit open-in-new

Short-term exposure limit