Occupational hygienists and other health scientists should have little problem in accepting that approaches to the management of risk should be based on soundly constructed principles of risk assessment. Such thinking permeates many aspects of occupational health practice and is reflected in supporting legal frameworks, for example the Chemical Agents Directive (EC, 1998) and UK Control of Subs...

A hierarchical Bayesian framework has been developed for exposure assessment that makes use of statistical sampling-based techniques to estimate the posterior probability of the 95th percentile or arithmetic mean of the exposure distribution being located in one of several exposure categories. The framework can synthesize professional judgment and monitoring data to yield an updated posterior e...

BACKGROUND The food industry regulates various aspects of food handler activities, according to legislation and customer expectations. The purpose of this paper is to provide a code of practice which delineates a set of working standards for food handler hygiene, handwashing, use of protective equipment, wearing of jewellery and body piercing. METHODS The code was developed by a working group...

OBJECTIVES This paper describes the development and evaluation of an evidence database on the effectiveness of risk management measures (RMMs) to control inhalation exposure. This database is referred to as Exposure Control Efficacy Library (ECEL). METHODS A comprehensive review of scientific journals in the occupational hygiene field was undertaken. Efficacy values for RMMs in conjunction wi...

The first Work Plan of the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centers (CCs) in Occupational Health was initiated in November 2001, following input of the CCs to choose the 15 priority areas of work for the period 2001-2005. This article reflects upon the successes and limitations of the Work Plan, describes some of the products, and points out some 'lessons learned' that were incorporated into...

Silicosis remains a common occupational respiratory disease. Even in this era of highly sophisticated hygiene in European countries, new occupational cases of silicosis continue to be reported. Four cases of silicosis which developed after a relatively short occupational exposure to respirable silica among the members of one family are described. Four young men worked illegally abroad in mining...

Genotype and phenotype in susceptibility to coal workers9 pneumoconiosis. The use of cytokines in perspective. P.J.A. Borm, R.P.F. Schins. #ERS Journals Ltd 2001. ABSTRACT: The readily available technique of screening for gene polymorphisms could be used to explain inter-individual variability in a classic occupational interstitial lung disease, such as coal workers9 pneumoconiosis (CWP). The o...

1 Under-representation of developing countries in the research literature: ethical issues arising from a survey of five leading medical journals Authors Athula Sumathipala 1, 4, Sisira Siribaddana 2,4 and Vikram Patel 3. 1. Section of Epidemiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London SE5 8AF. 2 Sri Jayewardenepura Postgraduate Teaching Hospital, Thalapathpitiya, Nugegoda, 10250, Sri ...

INTRODUCTION Since the early 1990s, researchers have been concerned with the low rate at which women are included in epidemiologic studies of occupational cancer. A previous evaluation determined that one-third of articles published between 1970 and 1990 included women. METHODS To assess whether there has been an improvement in recent years, papers on occupational cancer between 1991 and 2009...

The dominant policy decision emphasis on urbanisation problem in developing countries is itsrate of growth, ignoring the level of provision of resources, including the infrastructure, to match this growth. It isagainst this background that the paper undertook a broad analysis of the state of infrastructure in developing countriesusing such indices as access and quality of water supply, sanitati...