Description: TEELs are temporary levels of concern designed to be used as toxic exposure limits for chemicals for which AEGLs or ERPGs have not yet been defined. Like AEGLs and ERPGs, they are designed to represent the predicted response of members of the general public to different concentrations of a chemical during an incident. TEELs do not incorporate safety margins. Learn more:
TEELs are derived by the U.S. Department of Energy according to a specific, standard methodology. Unlike AEGLs and ERPGs, which are derived from extensive reviews of animal and human studies, the TEEL methodology prescribes using the ERPG when available, and when no ERPG exists, using available LOCs and manipulating current data using a peer-reviewed, approved procedure. As a result, TEELS are available for more than 2,500 chemicals.
The TEEL methodology can be used to derive a LOC for almost any chemical, but the power of TEELs is not as substantial as AEGLs or ERPGs. Nevertheless, TEELs can provide a useful reference when no other LOC is available.
Each TEEL includes four tiers, defined as follows:
To find a chemical's TEEL:
Search for the chemical's data sheet in CAMEO Chemicals (opens in new window).
Scroll to the bottom of Section 4 - Properties. Levels of concern established for the chemical, including TEELs, are shown in this area. Examples:
The TEEL for cyanogen chloride is shown in this chemical's CAMEO Chemicals datasheet:
Because ERPG is considered more authoritative than TEEL, ERPG is shown instead of TEEL in the CAMEO Chemicals data sheet for chlorine:
TEEL Program Subcommittee on Consequence Assessment and Protective Actions (SCAPA) site, with TEEL resources and details about TEEL development.
TEEL Database Search for TEELs on this Department of Energy site
TEEL Tables Download tables of TEELs in several different formats from this Department of Energy site.
