Developing an Algorithm to Assess the UV Erythemal Dose for Outdoor Workers

Abstract

An algorithm has been developed to determine the annual dose of UV solar radiation for outdoor workers. The dose is indirectly assessed basing on satellite data, mean global irradiance values, workers' data obtained by means of a questionnaire and corrective coefficients provided by a mathematical model. The values obtained by the use of the algorithm are compared with those obtained by measurement records in different environments. Results demonstrated that the algorithm estimates the mean daily erythemal dose with good approximation.

Occupational Exposure to Solar UV Radiation of a Group of Fishermen Working in the Italian North Adriatic Sea

“…Moreover, according to the CAREX study [36], solar radiation exposure in Italy, as well as in many other countries, is the occupational carcinogenic exposure involving the highest number of workers, just after passive tobacco smoke, e.g., in Italy, more than 700,000 outdoor workers, of whom 3200 are fishermen daily exposed to carcinogenic solar UV rays [36], and we should expect at least 1000 UV-inflicted occupational skin cancers (OSC) per year in Italy, but only a few dozen are reported each year to the compensation authority [37], and the same underreporting also happens in other countries [38,39]. Among the major issues in Europe for further improvements in the prevention of occupational solar UV exposure [7,40] there is the lack of established occupational exposure limits; only limits for artificial UV are available, but if we would apply these limits to outdoor work situations—and it can be possible, as solar UV radiation at the sea level is almost nonmeasurable below 300 nm of wavelength, so that the difference between the ICNIRP weighted and the erythemally weighted spectra can be considered negligible [6,14,27,28,29]—they would be largely exceeded, as shown in many studies [7,18,19,20,21,22].…”

“…For the majority of these adverse health effects, scientific studies show a strong association with cumulative UV exposure, typical of outdoor work, even if to date, there is still little knowledge on the relations between UV doses received and the increasing risk of long-term, adverse eye and skin effects in humans [6,7,8,9,10,11,14,15]. Among the main reasons, there are the issues in reconstructing the cumulative dose received during several years of exposure: Many indirect models have been proposed in scientific literature with this purpose, but their application in epidemiologic research has some practical difficulties (e.g., when recollecting a reliable exposure history, due to subjective investigation and lack of objective individual UV exposure data) [14,15,16,17].…”

Occupational Exposure to Solar UV Radiation in a Group of Dock-workers in North-East Italy

“…In order to better understand this quite high variability it would be important to collect detailed information on environmental and individual factors influencing the exposure with an integrated method, as previously observed [4,13]. Various algorithms have been proposed, aimed at reconstructing the solar UVR dose received by outdoor workers in different conditions, considering in particular also the exposure of different body districts [12][13][14]21], and one of this has been recently validated [21]. It would be important also to validate a specific questionnaire for the collection of solar UVR exposure data, similar to the one we previously applied [5,13], but adequately translated in the national languages and validated with an appropriate comparison, as it happened for other occupational risks [22].…”

Sun Exposure of Body Districts: Development and Validation of an Algorithm to Predict the Erythemal Ultra Violet Dose

“…The environmental factors are the main elements influencing the exposure to UV radiation of outdoor workers [25,28]. According to the literature [6], the environmental factors that have the most influence on the spectral composition and the amount of UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface are listed below.…”

“…The retrospective assessment does not consent to monitor the UV exposure in real time and to prevent overexposure; the use of scientific instruments requires technical knowledge and data post processing. Borra et al [25] proposed an algorithm for assessing the annual dose of UV solar radiation: it is based on satellite data and personal information acquired by questionnaires; anyway, also in this case, it allows to calculate the dose in the aftermath and not in real time. Park et al [26] also developed an UV exposure calculation algorithm to support peoples’ daily required UV dose.…”