User:Saltrabook/Occupational and environmental exposure and health risks assessments

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Biological measurements in the workplaces[edit | edit source]

Biological measurements of the working environment are relevant in some industrial setting but not in all. In many industrial settings the biological measurements are important, like noise, organic and inorganic dust, endotoxins in swine and chicken farms , wind turbine factories, mines and outdoor measurements in the metropolitan areas, like Beijing (formerly Peking), the capital of the People's Republic of China and others Pollution in China. However in some workplaces, like in schools and universities (apart form the laboratories) it may be more important with observations, interviews and questionnaires about stress, work hours and the psycho-social work environment. For example we find office buildings in the universities without sufficient daylight, lack of adequate ventilation, crowded with lack of space, mess and inadequate temperatures. This can be observed with the bare eyes and biological measurements could be directly erroneous if the other most important problems are unseen. Even if the biological measurements show rather good conditions, still other important issues may be "forgotten" and remain unsolved. These type of problems should be assessed by observations, interviews and surveys and a strategy to solve them should be established. For example can indoor biological measurements at the university buildings by and large (except for specific laboratories) be scary for the real occupational health problems. The survey instruments should include assessment of the physical and the psycho-social environment by using standardized questionnaires. There is no good evidence that these types of biological measurements have shown to be useful in the office and teaching environment except for some specific problems, for example PCB contamination from building materials [1] [2] [3] Measurement of dust in Sisal production [4]

  1. Herrick RF, Stewart JH, Allen JG. Review of PCBs in US schools: a brief history, an estimate of the number of impacted schools, and an approach for evaluating indoor air samples. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2016 Feb;23(3):1975–85.
  2. Herrick RF, Meeker JD, Altshul L. Serum PCB levels and congener profiles among teachers in PCB-containing schools: a pilot study. Environ Health. 2011 Jun 13;10:56.
  3. Herrick RF. PCBs in school-persistent chemicals, persistent problems. New Solut. 2010;20(1):115–26.
  4. To cite this article: Akwilina V. Kayumba , Magne Br åtveit , Yohana Mashalla , Valborg Baste , Wijnand Eduard & Bente E. Moen (2009) Working Conditions and Exposure to Dust and Bioaerosols in Sisal Processing Factories in Tanzania, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 6:3, 165-173, DOI: 10.1080/15459620802683044 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15459620802683044 Working Conditions and Exposure to Dust and Bioaerosols in Sisal Processing Factories in Tanzania. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23771678_Working_Conditions_and_Exposure_to_Dust_and_Bioaerosols_in_Sisal_Processing_Factories_in_Tanzania [accessed Aug 11, 2017].