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 exposure assessment, occupational health, industrial hygiene and toxicology. The STEL may be a legal limit in the United States for exposure of an employee to a chemical substance. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (U.S. OSHA) has set OSHA-STELs for 1,3-butadiene,[http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10087 29CFR1910.1051] benzene[http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10042 29CFR1910.1028] and ethylene oxide.[http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10070 29CFR1910.1047] For chemicals, STEL assessments are usually done for 15 minutes and expressed in parts per million (ppm), or sometimes in milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m³).{{cite web| url=https://www.seton.co.uk/coshh-assessment |title= Coshh Assessment Guide }} Sunday, March 15, 2020

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists publishes a more extensive list of STELs as threshold limit values (TLV-STEL).[http://www.acgih.org/home.htm American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists]

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