BACKGROUND Demographic changes will lead to a growing demand for healthy, motivated healthcare workers (HCW) in the years ahead. Along with well-targeted prevention, knowledge of occupational health and safety and infection precaution is essential for a healthy working life. In this context back-friendly working methods and protection from infectious diseases are necessary in elderly care. ME...

In the field of occupational hygiene, the setting of permissible levels of hazards in the work environment is one of the mechanisms used in occupational health to prevent health impairment in the worker. The term “permissible level” has been defined. Basically, it is a quantitative hygiene standard for a level considered to be safe, expressed as a concentration for a defined average time. In re...

Institute of Hygiene and Occupational Medicine, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany (E.D., U.v.R., I.S., I.P., A.W.R.), Institute of Environmental Analysis, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany (L.M.H., S.R., A.V.H.), Chemical Research Department, Matís, Reykjavík, Iceland (S.R.), Department of Traumatology, TU Munich, Germany (L.H., A.N.), Department of Toxicology...

Author Affiliations: Department of Nutrition & Food Hygiene and the Ministry of Education Key Lab of Hazard Assessment and Control in Special Operational Environment (Ji AL), Department of Occupational & Environmental Health (Cai TJ), School of Public Health, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China; School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA (Ji A...

1, Department of Internal Medicine of Nephrology, En Chu Kong Hospital, Taipei County, Taiwan 2, Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, National Taiwan University College of Public Health, Taipei, Taiwan 3, School of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei County, Taiwan 4, Department of Pediatrics, Taipei City Hospital, Zhongxiao Branch, Taipei, Taiwan 5, Department of...

In many situations characterized by sparse data, occupational hygienists have used subjective judgments that are claimed to be derived from their experience and knowledge. While this practice is widespread, there has been no systematic study of 'expert judgment' or the 'art' of occupational hygiene. Indeed, there is a need to address the question of whether there is such a thing as 'expert opin...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the studywas to work out a program that would help develop the most effective methods for protecting the safety and health of young workers. MATERIALS AND METHODS The program was designed by a multidisciplinary team of experts in occupational and public health, occupational hygiene, health promotion, sociology, and regulatory and control activities. RESULTS The program...

Background and objectives To prevent the spread of infections in all healthcare settings, hand hygiene must be routinely practiced. Appropriate hand hygiene techniques can go a long way in reducing nosocomial infections, cross-transmission of microorganisms and the risk of occupational exposure to infectious diseases. World Health Organisation (WHO) has taken an incredible approach called "My F...

Results are presented from a study that investigated the effect of characteristics of occupational hygienists relating to educational and professional experience and task-specific experience on the accuracy of occupational exposure judgments. A total of 49 occupational hygienists from six companies participated in the study and 22 tasks were evaluated. Participating companies provided monitorin...

An occupational hygiene survey was made in 38 nickel plating shops in Finland and exposure to nickel was studied by means of biological measurements and, in three shops, by using air measurements. The average after-shift urinary nickel concentration of 163 workers was 0.16 mumol l.-1 (range 0.001-4.99 mumol l.-1). After the 1-5 week vacation the urinary nickel concentration was higher than the ...