Delphine Bard

Principal Scientist

Dr Delphine Bard is a physical chemist with over 20 years' experience in the occupational measurement and characterization of airborne particles. She is a principal scientist, who leads and undertakes research and development work for the evaluation of exposure and risks to hazardous dust, nanomaterial, new technologies and advanced materials.

Her expertise includes knowledge of occupational health and safety practices; exposure assessment and characterisation of airborne particles, fibres and dust; aerosol measurement; risk assessment and waste management.

Delphine is the HSE Science Division leading specialist in nanomaterial and ultrafine particles exposure assessment. She actively participates in national and international committees and represents HSE on British, European and international standard committees for Nanotechnology and Assessment of workplace exposure - Particulate Matter.

She is involved in the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials, and has been involved in PEROSH (Partnership for European Research in Occupational Safety and Health) and WHO (World Health Organisation) projects and networks. Delphine contributed to the WHO guidelines on safe handling of nanomaterials.

Research Interests

• Workplace exposure assessment and development of practical workplace measurement strategies
• Aerosol measurement, sampling and characterisation of airborne dust and fibres
• Performance of real-time aerosol and low cost sensor devices for particulate matter
• Health and safety risks from hazardous dust and fibres
• Safe use of nanomaterials, advanced materials and new technologies in workplaces
• Safety by design
• Standardisation and metrology

Current and Previous Projects

• Advanced Materials: Understanding occupational risks to health from exposure to composite materials used in new manufacturing processes.
• Wireless low cost sensors for the measurement of respirable dust in the workplace. Project in collaboration with NIOSH (USA) and TNO (Netherlands) to develop protocols and procedures to assess the performance of low cost dust sensors.
• Safe occupational use of nanomaterials and development of measurement exposure strategies to assess and control airborne nanomaterials in workplaces. HSE funded projects and involvement in EU projects funded by the European commission including NANOSAFE, NANOSH, NanoDevice and EC4SafeNano.
• Harmonisation and standardisation of the rotating drum dustiness method for nanopowders. The pre-normative research was carried out in collaboration with INRS (France), TNO (Netherlands) and other PEROSH institutes. It was funded by the European commission (Nanotechnology mandate M/461). Delphine led the drafting of EN 17199-1:2019 and EN17199-2:2019 (Workplace exposure - Measurement of dustiness of bulk materials that contain or release respirable NOAA and other respirable particles. Part 1: Requirements and choice of test methods. Part 2: Rotating drum).
• CEN technical specification Nanotechnologies. Guidelines for the management and disposal of waste from the manufacturing and processing of manufactured nano-objects. CEN/TS 17275:2018. Delphine led the development of these guidelines. This work was funded by the European commission (Nanotechnology mandate M/461).
• Inventory of new fibres to classify them according to their potential hazards and risks.

Notable Achievements

• Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD): Raman Spectroscopic Study of Inorganic Fibres and Particles (Sheffield Hallam University, UK)
• Active member of BSI NTI/1, CEN TC 352 and ISO TC 229 standard committees- Nanotechnologies
• Active member of BSI EH2/2 and CEN TC 137 WG3 standard committees - Assessment of workplace exposure - Particulate Matter
• Active member of OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials
• Active member of the UK NanoSafety Group (UKNSG)
• Member of the UK Aerosol Society

Further Information

• LinkedIn