Health Safety and the Environment

Eurobitume’s HSE Committee provides support and systematic review of European and international studies on all pertinent aspects of key issues such as occupational health, recycling and environmental management, as they relate to bituminous binders.

It is committed to building a well defined EU regulatory position for bitumen, as well as developing sound scientific studies for classification and regulations.

The committee works with peer groups in other national and international industry associations and bitumen customer or downstream user organisations.


Health FAQs

Questions people frequently ask about bitumen and health. More


REACH FAQs

Eurobitume is leading the industry’s initiative to prepare for compliance with REACH, the new European procedures for evaluating and registering all chemical substances. This new regulation affects all downstream users or processors of bitumen. More


REACH EINECS and CAS

Guidance on use of EINECS & CAS definitions for REACH registration. More


REACH bitumen uses

Eurobitume has published a new REACH guidance table. This table translates the current list of bitumen use descriptors, prepared by CONCAWE for the REACH registration process, into the relevant uses and applications commonly understood throughout the industry. More


Safety Data Sheets

Bitumen suppliers provide Safety Data Sheets (SDS) to their customers for all bitumens. These sheets list all known hazards and indicate risk reduction measures. More


Safe Handling

To encourage good operational safety and environmental policies, Eurobitume has developed a range of publications for the benefit of those involved in the transport and handling of bituminous products. More


Sustainability

Bitumen has been used as a construction product for thousands of years. It is 100% re-useable and recycling of asphalt paving has increased significantly in recent years. In 2009, more than 52 million tonnes of asphalt were recycled in Europe. Quantities recycled directly back into road surfaces vary from country to country, but can be as high as 85%. More

 
 

Latest news

  • Bitumen in service (in the road, on the roof, ... ) is an inert material and represents no hazard to human health. During its storage, transportation and application it is heated to high temperatures so, for those working with bitumen, hazards do exist, although these can be easily managed.

    “Hazard” and “Risk” have very different meanings. See how they differ here.

  • Two new leaflets have been produced and made their debut at E&E 2012.

    'Move forward with confidence' and 'Working with confidence' provide an introduction to Eurobitume and highlight the health, safety and environmental information available on the Eurobitume website.

    To view a page-turning PDF of either leaflet please click on the leaflet name above.
     

  • More detail on the IARC Monograph Volume 103 evaluation of occupational exposures to bitumen and bitumen emissions has been published in The Lancet, December 2011.

    Updated 15 May 2013 - see final paragraph.

  • Eurobitume and the Asphalt Institute have launched an updated, definitive guide to bitumen.

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