ReachCentrum and TNO are offering a webinar on ART at 10:00 CET on Friday 25^th Nov 2011. The webinar provides an introduction to ART, with an explanation of the science behind ART as well as practical tips on usage and how to understand the results.

For more information, please visit the registration page.

ReachCentrum and TNO are offering training on ART on Tuesday 24^th May 2011, as part of a three day course (combined with Chesar and Stoffenmanager training) at the Sheraton Hotel, Schipol, Netherlands.

For more information, please take a look at the training page, or the TNO ART-Chesar portal, or register here.

The ART training course is followed the next day by a Chesar course.

The course will be held on:
Date Brussels: October 25 & 26, 2010 (on Monday the ART course will be given; on Tuesday the Chesar course)
Location: ReachCentrum, Brussels
Date Amsterdam: November 15 & 16, 2010 (on Monday the ART course will be given; on Tuesday the Chesar course)
Location: TNO, Amsterdam Hoofddorp (near Schiphol)

For more information and for registration details, please go to www.tno.nl/ART-Chesar.

The basic concepts of ART and illustrative worked examples will be presented during various international conferences:

Dutch Occupational Hygiene Society 2010 conference
24th – 25th March, Zeist, The Netherlands
(view details)

BOHS: Occupational Hygiene 2010 Annual Conference
27th – 29th April 2010, Harrogate, UK
(view details)

IOHA 8th International Scientific Conference
28th September – 2th October 2010, Rome, Italy
(view details)

ART is an evolving system that is anticipated to further develop in the future. Yet, developments in 2010 will not interfere with the main structure of the model and its predictions. New developments that are foreseen or are on the ‘wish list’ are diverse.

Discussions are ongoing to expand ART in 2010 with a built-in exposure database that users can search and use to update model estimates with analogous exposure data.

A coordinating meeting between representatives of ECHA and the ART consortium was organised to explore a possible connection with ECHA’s Chesar and ART. Different options for linkage with this CSA tool are possible and its feasibility will be explored further in 2010.

Currently, ART does not allow the inclusion of respiratory protective equipment (RPE) in the exposure assessment. Preparations are ongoing to implement realistic RPE protection factors as an additional parameter in ART.

Validation studies are planned to evaluate the reliability and accuracy of the model in order to further improve the tool.

For the medium term the applicability domain might be broadened to also include exposure to gasses and fibres. The feasibility to also include dermal exposure will be explored.

First discussions on the need for a higher tier exposure model originate from a workshop organised by the Health & Safety Executive in November 2004 (journal article). Almost two years later, participants from TNO, HSL, IOM, BAuA, NRCWE, and IRAS (UU) reached consensus with respect to the usefulness and feasibility of a Bayesian exposure assessment approach in a two-day workshop at TNO, the Netherlands.

It lasted till January 2008 that this consortium started the ART project with initial funding from the Dutch government, HSE and Afsset. In a subsequent stage funding was also provided by industry with important contributions from CEFIC, Shell, Eurometaux, and GlaxoSmithKline. Part of the required exposure data was collected under auspices of the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS).

A beta version was released in October 2009 and, after extensive testing, version 1 is available from February 2010 onwards. In the course of the ART project practical aspects have been discussed with many stakeholders from industry and member states. The scientific developments are peer reviewed by a range of external experts in Europe.