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Nanomaterials Insurance Risk Calculator

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Human and environmental harm arising from exposure to nanomaterials is insured under several types of liability policy. This page provides a very simple insurance risk assessment based on the generalisable findings of toxicological research, and on common sense. By answering the following questions you can find out whether or not a particular nanomaterial is likely to be of insurance concern.

Please enter:

  • Common name of the material:

  • CAS number if known:

You must answer all of the following questions. Use your judgment and the guide notes provided.

1. How is the material deployed in the insured scenario? For example; if used as a powder it is free, if incorporated into an exposed solid matrix it is accessible, if completely and permanently enclosed it is inaccessible.



2. Persistence in the target organism. This is measured by the time taken to dissolve or to break into smaller particles. Most likely you will only know its solubility in the lab; this is good enough for most purposes. You will know whether or not the material must be kept dry at all times!



3. Aggregation/agglomeration in the relevant situation. Most nanomaterials have a tendency to form clumps but this can be prevented. Insurance risk depends very little on whether the precise term is either aggregate or agglomerate.



4. Multiple oxidation states. Elemental and molecular nanomaterials can adopt several kinetically stable oxidation states in the same biological environment e.g. cell. A good example is chromium, which typically exists CrVI or CrIII in vivo.


5. Size distribution. Unusual toxicological properties are not usually observed in the larger nano materials. Fibres are the exception and are dealt with in question 6. Size distribution is almost always measured for QA purposes.Is 20% or more of the non-aggregated particle below 50 nm in cross-section?


6. Fibre size (if fibrous). The main concern is for fibres longer than 3 times the diameter. Risk is measured according to size distribution (again this will be known for QA purposes).





Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Human and environmental harm arising from exposure to nanomaterials is insured under several types of liability policy. This page provides a very simple insurance risk assessment based on the generalisable findings of toxicological research, and on common sense. By answering the following questions you can find out whether or not a particular nanomaterial is likely to be of insurance concern.

Please enter:

  • Common name of the material:

  • CAS number if known:

You must answer all of the following questions. Use your judgment and the guide notes provided.

1. How is the material deployed in the insured scenario? For example; if used as a powder it is free, if incorporated into an exposed solid matrix it is accessible, if completely and permanently enclosed it is inaccessible.



2. Persistence in the target organism. This is measured by the time taken to dissolve or to break into smaller particles. Most likely you will only know its solubility in the lab; this is good enough for most purposes. You will know whether or not the material must be kept dry at all times!



3. Aggregation/agglomeration in the relevant situation. Most nanomaterials have a tendency to form clumps but this can be prevented. Insurance risk depends very little on whether the precise term is either aggregate or agglomerate.



4. Multiple oxidation states. Elemental and molecular nanomaterials can adopt several kinetically stable oxidation states in the same biological environment e.g. cell. A good example is chromium, which typically exists CrVI or CrIII in vivo.


5. Size distribution. Unusual toxicological properties are not usually observed in the larger nano materials. Fibres are the exception and are dealt with in question 6. Size distribution is almost always measured for QA purposes.Is 20% or more of the non-aggregated particle below 50 nm in cross-section?


6. Fibre size (if fibrous). The main concern is for fibres longer than 3 times the diameter. Risk is measured according to size distribution (again this will be known for QA purposes).





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