607 research outputs found
Sensory Perception: An Overlooked Target of Occupational Exposure to Metals
The effect of exposure to industrial metals on sensory perception of workers has received only modest
interest from the medical community to date. Nevertheless, some experimental and epidemiological data
exist showing that industrial metals can affect vision, hearing and olfactory function, and a similar effect is
also suggested for touch and taste. In this review the main industrial metals involved are discussed. An
important limit in available knowledge is that, to date, the number of chemicals studied is relatively small.
Another is that the large majority of the studies have evaluated the effect of a single chemical on a single
sense. As an example, we know that mercury can impair hearing, smell, taste, touch and also vision, but we
have scant idea if, in the same worker, a relation exists between impairments in different senses, or if
impairments are independent. Moreover, workers are frequently exposed to different chemicals; a few
available results suggest that a co-exposure may have no effect, or result in both an increase and a decrease of
the effect, as observed for hearing loss, but this aspect certainly deserves much more study. As a conclusion,
exposure to industrial metals can affect sensory perception, but knowledge of this effect is yet incomplete,
and is largely inadequate especially for an estimation of “safe” thresholds of exposure. These data support the
desirability of further good quality studies in this field
Occupational Health and Safety in the Healthcare Sector
Healthcare workers are exposed to several different occupational risk factors, and they pay
an important tribute in terms of occupational diseases and work-related injuries. Currently, the
COVID-19 pandemic has focused the attention on the problem of the infectious risk, which is certainly
among the risks typically expected and specifically recognized for the health personnel, but also other
occupational risks should not be overlooked, as, e.g., the risks associated with work-organization
factors and with the exposure to chemical and physical agents. The health consequences associated
with the exposure to all these factors have relevant impacts in terms of induced diseases, DALYs,
sickness absence from work and costs for the health systems.
According to these premises, this reprint has collected manuscripts addressing topics related
to the prevention of the occupational risks in the healthcare sector, including original articles and
reviews on the prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries of the health personnel, as well as
on the evaluation of the risks in the healthcare workplaces, and on the topics of risk perception and
of the knowledge and attitudes of the workers towards the preventive procedures and the use of
protections. The themes of the prevention of occupational infectious risk, biomechanical overload
of the musculoskeletal system and work-related psychosocial factors are specifically discussed in the
papers collected
Occupational health surveillance of workers exposed to electromagnetic fields according to the current Italian legislation
Summary—The health surveillance (HS) of workers exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMF) aims at the prevention of known EMF adverse effects. No specific lab tests or medical investigations are useful for routine monitoring of exposure and/or in the prevention of adverse effects occurrence. The main HS scopes are the recognition of workers at particular risk and/or of the occurrence of unexpected symptoms
Macular degeneration and occupational risk factors: a systematic review
Purpose: Macular degeneration is a multi-factorial disease, leading cause of blindness for people over 50 years old in developed countries. To date, the knowledge on possible occupational factors involved in the development of the disease is scant. Method: We performed a systematic scientific literature search on the association between macular degeneration and occupational risk factors searching the MedLine and Scopus databases. Results: We examined 158 articles and, according to the inclusion criteria, 13 peer-reviewed studies evaluating occupational risk factors for macular degeneration or reporting the frequency of the disease in specific groups of workers were included in the review. Ten on thirteen articles evaluated the presence of macular degeneration in workers exposed to solar radiation. Only one study found that non-specific history of occupational chemical exposure was associated with the disease. Two studies showed an association between macular degeneration and the general category of “blue-collar” workers, but they did not identify the specific risk factors involved. Conclusions: To date few studies have examined occupational risk factors for macular degeneration. Nevertheless, available data indicate that long-term occupational solar radiation exposure, in particular for its blue-light component, is associated with macular degeneration in outdoor workers
The under-reporting of UV induced occupational non-melanoma skin cancers and actinic keratoses in Italy
COVID-19, long-COVID and return-to-work: the experience of Italian occupational physicians on musculoskeletal symptoms and occupational ergonomic risks
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