December 2009
Vol 17, No. 3

NEWSLETTER
Contents
1
Letter from the Editor
2
News from the IOHA Board
3
8th IOHA International Scientific Conference
3News from Member Associations
8
News from WHO Collaborating Centres
15News from the ILO
16
News from EU-OSHA
18
Contributions from Readers

Letter from the Editor
Dear Colleagues,
For a long time all of us in occupational health have been awareof the tremendous “knowledge-application” gap between what
is known by scientists and well-trained professionals in terms ofhazard prevention and control, and what is actually translated
into effective measures applied at the workplace level in asustainable way. Unfortunately there are many obstacles
between knowledge and its application and, in trying to identify
them, one invariably comes across lack or insufficient political,
shortage of human resources and insufficient availability of
relevant information, among many others.
I was very happy to see, at the World Health Organization(WHO) meeting of Collaborating Centres for Occupational
Health, people from all over the world working together
towards the common goal of overcoming many of theseobstacles in order to effectively protect the health and wellbeing of workers.
As you go through this issue of our Newsletter, besides news on
the above meeting, you will see many contributions that
address matters directly related to these obstacles, in addition
to many other topics of relevance for occupational hygiene
practice.
The underestimation of occupational diseases and injuries isimmense, which leads many decision makers to underrate
workers’ health problems thus weakening political will to solve
them. Therefore more efforts need to be placed on theircorrect estimation, and two notices in this respect from Dr
Jukka Takala, EU-OSHA Director, presented in this issue are ofgreat importance.
Another related subject is capacity building at the country level
and, as you will see, one of the workshops that followed the
WHO CC meeting dealt with this topic, including bothavailability of information and human resources development.
In most countries, there is a shortage of adequately trained
professionals, such as occupational physicians and nurses,

occupational hygienists, ergonomists and other members of theoccupational health multidisciplinary team.
There is a particular need for strengthening the occupational
hygiene component of occupational health, as it aims
specifically at primary prevention, which is key to the effective
protection of workers’ health. Fortunately, as you may see inthis issue, there are many efforts towards education andtraining in this field, both at the national and international
levels. Nevertheless, a greater impetus in this area is required.
Exchanges of ideas and experiences on how to approachoccupational hygiene training are very valuable and yourcomments in this respect will be most welcome.
I would like to make one last consideration. The other day I saw
a worker on TV who said “the worst work is no work”, which is areality that cannot be denied. More than ever, in these times offinancial crisis, people are worried about unemployment. In myview, this situation places an even greater responsibility on
those in charge of OH&S who must to ensure that economic
concerns do not overshadow the need for healthy and safe
workplaces, and that there is no slackening in the efforts toprevent hazards.
Dr. Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health andEnvironment, WHO, when speaking to participants at the WHO
CCs meeting, emphasized that, in view of the challenges posedby the crises the world is facing today, there is a need to use
resources more efficiently in order to ensure that the health ofworkers is adequately protected. She closed by saying “Yes wecan !” meaning that the combined power of the CC Network will
make it possible to achieve the goals of the WHO work plan on
workers’ health in spite of increased constraints.
If asked if we can possibly overcome the existing obstacles toimplement prevention worldwide, I would like to reply byborrowing this expression and say: “if all occupational healthprofessionals join forces to amplify their strengths, overcome
their weaknesses and complement one another, then, yes, wecan”. I would like to add: “and let’s commit ourselves to do it !”I take this opportunity to wish to all of you and your families avery Joyous Holiday Season followed by a New Year full of
happiness and professional achievements.

Best greetings to all
Berenice Goelzer
berenice@goelzer.net

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 20091

NEWS from the IOHA BOARD
Report from the meeting of the IOHA Board - 8 October 2009, Bilbao, Spain
1. The meeting was held in Bilbao, Spain, chaired by Dr
Danilo Cottica (President) and attended byrepresentatives of AIHA, the Australian, British,
Canadian, Dutch, French, Japanese, Norwegian,Southern African, Swiss and Taiwanese organisations,with Sandi Atkinson and Pamela Blythe from theSecretariat in attendance and two representatives
from the newly formed Spanish Society as observers.
Apologies for absence had been received from ACGIH,
the Brazilian, German, Irish, Hong Kong, Korean andSwedish organisations.
2. The IOHA Board was very kindly hosted by theEuropean Agency for Safety and Health at Work. The
Agency’s Director Dr Jukka Takala joined part of themeeting as an observer and to explore the synergies
between the two organisations. On the morning of 9
October, the Board heard four presentations from
Agency staff on aspects of its work.
3. The President Dr Danilo Cottica delivered apresentation on behalf of the Italian Association’s
Organising Committee on the progress of the 8thInternational Scientific Conference, to be held in
Rome, Italy, 28 September – 2 October 2010. The
deadline for abstracts is 31 January 2010 and they canbe submitted via the conference website
www.ioha2010.org

Professional Development Courses on 3 & 4 March2012.
5. The Certification Schemes of the Swiss Society and theNorwegian Association were formally recognised by
IOHA, and both organisations were congratulated by
the Board. In addition the British Society’s
accreditation was renewed for a further five years.
6. For a long time now, IOHA has been actively
collaborating with the group of people who have beenworking towards the development of international
occupational hygiene training and qualifications. Thatgroup has now established itself under English Law
into the Occupational Hygiene Training Association(OHTA) and IOHA has formally signed a Memorandumof Understanding with OHTA and agreed to contribute
some funds for the development of OHTA’s website.
More information on this project will appear in the
newsletter in due course.
7. At this meeting the Board began the process ofreviewing the strategy for IOHA. The current strategy
began in 2007 and runs until 2010, with the majorityof its objectives now complete. In consultation with
the Member Organisations a new strategy will be
developed for 2011 to 2014.

8. A new page has been created on the IOHA website
4. A progress report on the 9th International Scientificentitled ‘International OEL Issues and Activities’
Conference
waswhere we hope to provide
submitted by the
information on the issues
Malaysianandstimulatethe
Association
who
discussion of approaches
was unable toand solutions to the issues
attendthebefore the profession. If
meeting.
The
you
wish
to
add
conference
will
information to this spacemark the 25th
pleasecontact
anniversaryofadmin@ioha.net
IOHA and will beheld at the Kuala
9. The next meeting of the
Lumpur City Centre
Board will be held on 23(KLCC) Convention
May 2010 in Denver,
Centre, Malaysia
Colorado, USA at theon 5 – 7 March
AIHce 2010.
2012.
The
Conference will be
precededbyPicture of the Board in Bilbao
IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 20092

8th IOHA International Scientific Conference – Rome 2010

8th IOHA International Scientific
Conference
28 September – 2 October 2010
Rome, Italy – University Urbaniana
IOHA is pleased to announce that the deadline forsubmission of abstracts for the 8th International Scientific
Conference has been postponed from the 1st ofDecember to the 31st of January.
The purpose of the Conference, entitled “Health Workand Social Responsibility”, is to discuss strategies for the
decade 2010-2020 on how to protect the health ofworkers and to improve the quality of the work
environment, in the perspective of businesses’ social
responsibility and of sustainable development.
The conference will gather a group of international
experts in occupational (industrial) hygiene and otherfields dealing with prevention.

IOHA will be very glad to receive your contribution toensure that occupational hygienists play a leading role in
the new integrated markets of Environment, Health &Safety and to define methodologies and instruments
tailored to suit Countries with different levels ofdevelopment.
Click here to submit your abstract
The conference will last 5 days and will be structured asfollows: plenary sessions in the morning and scientificparallel sessions morning and afternoon.
The provisional scientific programme is available on the
Conference web site.
Click here to see the Provisional Scientific Program
To get more information about the Conference, please
visit the conference web site www.ioha2010.org/, which
will be regularly updated or contact info@ioha2010.org

Organizers:

NEWS from MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS
From BOHS, UK, and NVvA, The Netherlands

British-Dutch guidance on sampling strategy for exposure limits
Sent by: Trevor Ogden, Co-chair for BOHS, BOHS-NVvA Working Group on
Sampling Strategy, E-mail: ogden@ogs.org.uk

A joint working group of the British and Dutch
Occupational Hygiene Societies (BOHS and NVvA) has
drafted guidance on testing compliance with exposure
limits for airborne substances.
The approach isparticularly aimed at compliance with European Union
legislation, but should be useful anywhere. The draft isavailable for public guidance and comment at:
http://www.bohs.org/resources/res.aspx/Resource/
filename/1596/11_Testing_Compliance_with_Occupatio
nal_Exposure_Limits_draft_guidance.pdf
The major problem with testing compliance is that a

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 20093

statistically sound strategy requires far more sampling
than most hygienists would consider to be practicable, so
the draft emphasises that it is important to apply
principles of good control before starting a big
programme of measurement. The draft proposes a
screening test of three samples to test whether
compliance is likely, and then a fuller test to measure theinter- and within-worker variances. From these, twomeasures of compliance are calculated, one applying to
the exposure group and the other to individual
workers. The second is the more important and theharder to meet. The document also reviews three
shorter tests, and explains their limitations.

From AIHA, USA

The draft is available for comment until the end of
December 2009. Comments based on workplace trials
will be particularly welcome. We hope that it will bepossible to present the results of the consultation at the
BOHS conference at the end of April http://
www.bohs.org/standardTemplate.aspx/Home/Events/
AnnualConference2010 .
An editorial in the November issue of Annals of
Occupational Hygiene gives a fuller background andexplanation of the proposals. This is available now at:
http://annhyg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/53/8/775

AIHA Releases Comments on the “Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act of2009” (July 15, 2009)
Sent by Melissa Hurley Alves, AIHA Communications mhurley@aiha.org
and Aaron Trippler, AIHA Government Affairs atrippler@aiha.org

The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)
recently provided comments to Hon. John Conyers Jr. on
HR 2381, “Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act
of 2009,” a bill amending the Occupational Safety and
Health (OSH) Act of 1970. This legislation is being cosponsored by Hon. Lynn C. Woolsey.
“AIHA has a significant number of members who areemployed by or provide services to the health careindustry,” said AIHA President Cathy L. Cole, CIH, CSP.
“The need to identify and apply methods to improve safe
patient handling programs has been a recognized need …
progressive, proactive health care providers haveachieved significant reductions in worker injuries andtheir related costs as a result of implementing effective
and safe patient handling programs. Sadly, a highpercentage of health care facilities have not yet decided
to implement these programs.”
Introduction of HR 2381 is a method to ensure that thesafe patient handling issue is properly addressed. AIHA
recently developed and adopted a position statement
entitled “Safe Handling of Patients and Residents.” The
AIHA position statement is essentially in full accord with
HR 2381 with the following two exceptions:currently available to adequately reduce all of these
exposures. Research should be funded and otherefforts undertaken to fill this knowledge gap.
2. The time allowed to send safe patient handlingincident reports to the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) should be extended
from one business day after request receipt to fifteen
business days. The latter figure would be consistent
with the requirement under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020,
Access to Employee Exposure and Medical Records.
AIHA offered full assistance to Congress, OSHA, andothers to deliver the standards, regulations, complianceassistance, and enforcement necessary to help achieve
the mutual goal to provide workers and communities a
healthy and safe environment and the prevention ofoccupational disease and injury.
The entire letter with AIHA’s HR 2381 recommendations
may be seen at:
http://www.aiha.org/1documents/GovernmentAffairs/
HR2381PositionConyers070709.pdf
and the full position statement, at:

1. The scope of the legislation should be limited toworkers in health care facilities at this time and not
apply to health care workers in the homeenvironment. While AIHA recognizes (as is evidenced
in the position statement) that home health care
workers are also exposed to significant ergonomic
risk, equipment, and other control approaches are not

http://www.aiha.org/1documents/GovernmentAffairs/
safepatienthandling.pdf

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 20094

From ABHO, Brazil

The Brazilian Association of Occupational Hygienists (ABHO) has a new Board
Sent by:
Maria Margarida Moreira Lima, ABHO (Vice-president Public Relations)E-mail: margarida.abho@gmail.com
andIrene Ferreira Duarte Saad, ABHO (founding member)
E-mail: irene@saadadvocacia.com.br

The new Board of ABHO for the triennium 2009-2012
took office on 23 August 2009. The President, Directors
and Board members are occupational hygienists withlarge experience; all of them work in governmental
agencies, national and multinational companies andconsulting firms specifically in occupational hygiene.

The new ABHO Board

ABHO has three Boards, namely:
the Executive Board, with a President: José Manuel O.
Gana Soto (consulting firm); Administrative Vice
President:
GerritGruenzner(Fundacentro,
governmental research agency); Vice President for
Research: Mário Luiz Fantazzini (Dupont); Vice
President for Training and Education: Roberto Jaques(Petrobras); Vice-President for Public Relations: Maria
Margarida T. Moreira Lima (Fundacentro), and, VicePresident for International Relations: José Pedro Dias
Júnior (Johnson & Johnson).
the Technical Board, constituted by the following
occupational hygienists:
Jose Gama Christo(consultant), Juan Felix Coca Rodrigo (Saint Gobain),
José Luis Lopes (Cosan) and Milton Marcos Miranda
Villa (3M).
the Fiscal Board, constituted by the following
occupational hygienists: Ana Gabriela Lopes Ramos
Maia (ALCOA), Maria Sanches Cleide Oshiro (consultingfirm) and Mauro David Ziwian (Office of the District
Attorney for Labour Matters).

José Manuel O. Gana Soto, the new President, is one of
the founding fathers of ABHO. He has a Bachelor's Degreein Chemistry and a diploma of expert in Industrial
Hygiene from the Catholic University of Chile. Later on hegraduated in Chemical Engineering in Brazil. He is one ofthe pioneers of Occupational Health in Brazil and was for 11 years - the manager of the Division of Occupational
Hygiene at Fundacentro, the national institution forstudies and research on safety, hygiene and occupational
health, and a WHO Collaborating Centre for Occupational
Health.
During his time at Fundacentro, Gana Soto coordinated,in the late 1970s, a team of five professionals who were
responsible for elaborating the first comprehensive
occupational hygiene legislation in Brazil. On thatoccasion, the few existing occupational exposure limits(noise and heat) were updated and many others
introduced. For the first time Brazil had occupational
exposure limits for chemical agents. This new legislation
was a milestone in the development of occupational
hygiene in Brazil. In order to allow for greater uniformity
in the application of the new legislation at the national
level, he also coordinated the development of the first"Technical Occupational Hygiene Standards” and the first"Safety Data Sheets for Chemicals" at the governmental
level.
During his 15 years with ABHO, Gana Soto has always
played important roles in the direction of the association.
Now, as President, he sees two main challenges: the legal
recognition of the profession of occupational hygienist
and the strengthening the role of ABHO in respect toeducation and training in this field.
Regarding the recognition of the profession, theassociation began, back in 2003, the process ofprofessional certification and its maintenance. This work,
which aims at enhancing the performance of theoccupational hygienist, has improved the profile ofoccupational hygienists who are members of andcertified by ABHO and also increased their recognition bysociety in general. Nevertheless, the profession still lacks
legal recognition in Brazil, and to achieve this goal is themain mission of the current administration.

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 20095

As to technical developments, ABHO intends to continue
the translation of the ACGIH® TLV's® into Portuguese andincrease the number of its technical publications in
Portuguese, which are much respected in view of its
sound reputation.
Concerning education and training, many courses are
traditionally given during the ABHO Annual Conference.
However, the present ABHO Board believes that morecourses, as well as seminars and expert meetings, shouldbe held throughout the year in order to better
disseminate knowledge on current occupational hygiene

issues around the country. ABHO aims at acting incollaboration with IOHA concerning occupational hygiene
training by promoting the translation into Portuguese of
training modules developed by IOHA.
These are the main goals that the new Board will makeevery effort to achieve in the next 3 years.
New address for ABHO: Rua Cardoso de Almeida, 167, cj.
121 05013-000 São Paulo, Brazil Site: www.abho.org.br

Japan Association for Working Environment Measurement (JAWE) - First
Central Symposium on Work Environment Measurement and Evaluation of
its Result with Respect to Chemical Substances and Dust, September 2009

From JAWE, JAPANSent by Masayoshi Karasawa, Special Adviser, JAWE
E-mail: m19419k@yahoo.co.jp
Shigeru Asuka, Executive Director, JAWE
E-mail: sasuka@jawe.or.jp
The Japan Association for Working Environment
Measurement (JAWE), whose Chairperson is Mr. Shigeru
Oshita, Managing Director, General Manager, Personnel& Labour Relations Division, Nippon Steel Corporation,
held the above-mentioned Symposium on 9 September
2009, in Tokyo. This Symposium was organized for the
first time, by the Headquarters of JAWE as the part of the
23rd Nationwide Campaign for Promotion of Working
Environment Measurement and Evaluation of its Result,with the support of the Ministry of Health, Labour andWelfare, Japan. It was planned to deepen theunderstanding of the importance to conduct working
environment measurements and evaluate their results
properly, in order to prevent occupational diseases
caused by toxic chemical substances and dusts. The
Symposium consisted of two parts, namely, two kinds ofspecial lectures and a Panel-Discussion (see photo).

The first special lecture by Takashi Numano, PhD, CIH

Panel(Certified Industrial Hygiene Consultant), CSP (Certified
Safety Professional Consultant), was entitled “Work
Environment Measurement and Evaluation of its Result
as well as International Trend with respect to Risk

Assessment
andRisk
Control/Management ofChemical Substances”. In
hispresentation,hequoted Alice Hamilton(1869-1970),
anoccupational physician in
the United States, and a
distinguished researcher inthe field of occupational
health whose pioneer work
has had universal impact(see photo), emphasizing –Caption: Alice Hamilton,
as Hamilton indicated inM.D.
her 1941 article, that
almost all industrial poisoning is caused by the inhalationof airborne toxic substances in work places. He alsoemphasized the three kinds of control measures, namely
control of the working environment, control of work
methods and health management, as well as the twokinds of supporting measures, namely, establishment ofappropriate organization for good management ofoccupational health and occupational health education.
With regard to exposure assessment, he stated that,while in the West the tendency is to attach greater
importance to measuring workers’ personal exposure to
toxic substances by using personal samplers, in Japan, thetendency is to attach great importance to measuring
their airborne concentration in the working environment.
Each of these methods has advantages anddisadvantages, as well as limitations, which have to beclearly understood in order to accurately evaluate

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 20096

workers’ exposure. In addition, he introduced the related
provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act(OSHA) in the United States, the ALARP principle (that is,
to reduce risks As Low As is Reasonably Practicable) withrespect to assessment and control of occupational
exposure to toxic chemicals, in European countries andthe United States, as well as the relevant provisions in theChemical Safety Report of the EU REACH regulation.

adviser to the Japan Industrial Safety and Health
Association (JISHA), as a master of the Panel discussion,and by Ms. Noriko Kamezawa, Director, Office of Working
Environment Improvement, Department of Safety and
Health, Labour Standards Bureau, as a representative of
the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

The second special lecture by professor Toshio Nagoya,
School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda
University, was entitled “ Effective Application of realtime monitoring instruments in order to monitor dust
and/or carbon monoxide in related workplaces”. In his
presentation, which included slides and videos, heshowed:“Management of Chemical Substances in Sumitomo
Chemical Co., Ltd.” by Mr. Yasumi Shiozaki, Executive
Officer, Responsible Care Office. He introduced
Responsible Care, which is authorized by theInternational Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA)
as well as the Japan Responsible Care Council (JRCC),
as “Responsible Care is a Voluntary Initiative withcompany's commitment to improve all aspects ofEnvironment, Health and Safety and to communicate
with the public about activities and achievement toensure transparency on five considerations, namely,communication with public, process safety anddisaster prevention, environmental preservation,
occupational safety and health, product stewardship.
He presented his company’s managing system ofchemical substances, risk assessment of chemical
substances and process safety (including preventionof fire, explosion, decomposition and control ofchemical reaction).

a practical example to monitor airborne dust around
operations, such as arc-welding, concrete spraying intunnel construction sites and others, with an
improved real-time Dust Monitor (improved type ofPD-2), equipped with a particle size selective air
sampler with 4μm 50% cutting type, in accordancewith the international standard concerning inhalable
dust;
a practical example to monitor airborne carbon
monoxide in gas welding and gas cutting operations,with a new type of real-time carbon monoxide
monitoring instrument, which was recently
developed by a manufacturer of working
environment measurement instruments.
He stated that these real-time monitoring instruments
are very useful and efficient in order to show workers,
who are engaged in these tasks, their real-time exposurelevel to dust or carbon monoxide, as well as theeffectiveness of the dust masks, which they are wearing.
At the end of his lecture, he recommended that,whenever feasible, real-time monitoring instruments
should be used in workplaces, in a positive manner,
aiming at triggering action to improve work environment
control, thus preventing occupational diseases caused
from toxic substances or dusts.
The Panel-Discussion followed and the theme was“Autonomous and Sound Management of Toxic
Substances by Enterprises based on Hazard Identification,
Exposure Assessment and Risk Characterization ofChemical Substances as well as Good Practices”. There
were five presentations in this Panel, by four participantsfrom enterprises (three of them were from the chemicalindustry and one, from the steel industry) and one
participant from a working environment measurement
agency. There were also two comments by Professor
Emeritus Haruhiko Sakurai, Keio University and technicalThe five presentations were as follows:“Working
Environment
Measurementandoccupational Health Management system in Nippon
Steel Corporation” by Mr. Shinichi Abuku, General
Manager, Health Promotion Department, Personal &Labor Relations Division, Safety Enhancement
Division. He presented his company’s principles withregard to management of chemical substances used intheir process, including hazard assessment and risk
control, obtaining hazard information through MSDS
and other sources before chemical substances are
introduced into factory sites, identifying possible
unwanted chemical reactions among used substances,among other steps.
“Management of Chemical Substances in ExxonMobil
Yugen Kaisha” by MPH, CIH, Haruo Hashimoto,Industrial Hygiene Adviser, Asia Pacific Shared Services,
Medical & Occupational Health. He presented his
company’s principles with regard to management ofchemical substances, including the organization of therelevant department with regard to managing
occupational health including health care as the top
management policy and risk assessment of chemical
substances used.
“Management of Chemical Substances with regard to
Occupational Health, from the view point of an

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 20097

occupational physician ” by M.D., Ph.D., Seitaro Dohi,
Head of Chief Health Management Dept., Human
Resources & Employee Relations Division, Mitsui
Chemicals Incorporation. He presented his company’s
principles and his opinions concerning management ofchemical substances, including their top and basic
policies on environment, occupational safety andhealth, quality and the promotion of autonomous
control (with emphasis on compliance of laws andregulations), risk communication, risk assessment andmanagement from the designing stage of plant andequipment, training of competent specialists, such as
occupational hygienists, with regard to the field ofhazard assessment, exposure assessment and risk
management of toxic substances, among other aspects.

These presentations were followed by a questions andanswers session and a discussion on these topics,
conducted by Professor emeritus Haruhiko Sakurai. At
the end of Panel Discussion, Ms. Noriko Kamezawa,
Director, Office of Working Environment Improvement,commented the importance of this symposium and her
intention to promote improvement of working
environment
through
Working
Environment
Measurement and Evaluation of its result. Finally,
Professor emeritus Haruhiko Sakurai emphasized theimportance of quantitative evaluation of Hazard
Identification, Dose-Response Assessment, Exposure
Assessment and Risk Characterization of Chemical
Substances and dust as well as training competentspecialists in these fields.

“Approach as the working environment measurement
agency or the Occupational Hygienist in the field ofworking environment measurement” by Mr. Kojiro
Tabuki, licensed occupational hygiene consultant,
Director, Centre of Kitakyushu Environment
Measurement, Nishinihon Occupational Health Service
Centre Foundation. His presentation included thepresent state of laws and regulations with regard to
occupational health, especially management of toxic
chemical substances, as well as problems with regard
to supporting services in the field of occupational
hygiene.

The symposium was attended by 150 participants, as wellas guests including representatives from the
Headquarters of the Ministry of Health, Labour andWelfare. Among the participants,
35 % were
Occupational Hygienists in the field of Working
Environment Measurement, 21% persons in charge ofoccupational safety and health, 12% licensed healthsupervisors, 8% licensed occupational hygiene
consultants, 5% entrepreneurs, 3% governmental officials
in charge of occupational health and 2% occupational
physicians.

NEWS from WHO Collaborating Centres
Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Occupational Health
Sent by Joan Burton, Canada, Temporary Advisor to WHO
E-mail: jburtonww@gmail.com
The Eighth Meeting of the Global Network of the World
Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centres (CCs)for Occupational Health was held in WHO Headquarters,
Geneva, from 19-23 October 2009, with 170 participantsfrom 42 countries, 107 of which were from WHO
Collaborating Centres. There was also participation ofNGOs in official relations with WHO, namely IOHA, ICOH
and IEA.
The overall purpose of the meeting was to advance theimplementation of the WHO Global Plan of Action on
Workers' Health (GPA) (World Health Assembly
Resolution 60/26 endorsed in May 2007).

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 20098

The detailed objectives were:
1.

2.

3.

4.
5.

Discuss progress
and needs of the
2009-2012
Global Workplan
Discuss roles ofall parties inachievingtheWorkplan
objectivesby2012
Discuss collaboration with CC Network partners;
priorities, grouped CC projects, and other aspectsof implementing the projects in the 2009-2012
Workplan
Clearly define the deliverables/products to be
produced by 2012
Obtain CC commitments for projects to fill gaps,
where still required

The meeting was opened
by Dr. Carlos Dora,ActingCoordinator,
WHO Interventions for
Healthy Environments,
who warmly welcomed
participants.
Dr. IgorFedotov
brought
greetings from ILO on
behalf of Sameera AlTuwaijri,
Director
Safework, noting the
Dr Carlos Doracomplementary
roles
that ILO and WHO fulfill,as the only United Nations agencies with the mandate toprotect and promote worker health. This was followed
by a welcome from Dr. Max Lum (on behalf of NIOSH
Director John Howard, Global CC Network Chair). He
reviewed the purpose of the meeting and urged
attendees to participate fully in the planned working
groups. A welcome from WHO by Dr. Maria Neira,Director, WHO Department of Public Health andEnvironment followed. She recognized the energy andenthusiasm in the room and reminded participants that
WHO’s power is linked to the ability to call on andconvince the best scientists in the world to promote andprotect workers’ health.
Over a period of a week, participants in small working
groups discussed 14 priority topics and many associatedprojects under each priority, all of them linked to the 5
Objectives in the GPA. At the end of the meeting,participants agreed on a Work Plan of priority initiatives,projects and deliverables to advance the implementationof the GPA in the period 2009-2012.

Highlightsofthemeeting included thefirst Joint Meeting ofWHO
Collaborating
Centres and ILO CIS
Information Centres, inwhich the similarities
and differences of thetwogroupswere
discussed,
andadditional ways of
Dr Maria Neira and Dr
working in synergistic
Marilyn Fingerhut
relationships
were
explored. This was followed by a high-level Round Table
that addressed the need to protect the health of workers
during a climate of change – both economic andenvironmental, as well as opportunities for instruments,
such as the primary health care approach, labour policies,
employer groups, trade unions and the development of agreen economy, to contribute to this goal. The need for asocial protection floor and the risks associated withclimate change were also discussed.
Dr. Marilyn Fingerhut, Co-Coordinator of the WHO Global
Network of CC stated, “The Global Network Meetingtakes place every three years. This was the first meeting
to be held at WHO in Geneva and was the largest everheld. The participants were pleased to be hosted byWHO. The dedication, energy and spirit of commitmentof the Collaborating Centres and all participants enableda very successful Network meeting, which included 14
Working Groups, for each of the 14 Priorities of the
Global Plan of Action. Their enthusiasm could be felt inall Working Groups, during which the deliverables andcritical gaps to be filled by 2012 were identified, in order
to assist countries to meet their commitments under the
May 2007 World Health Assembly Resolution, the Global
Plan of Action for Workers’ Health. Now, our challenge isto successfully move forward to fill those critical gaps.”
The full meeting report can be accessed on the WHO
website at: http://www.who.int/occupational_health/en/

Post Conference Workshops
The meeting was followed by three 1.5-day workshops:

1.
2.
3.

Capacity Building for Education and Training in
Occupational Health
Healthy Workplaces: a Framework and Model
Healthcare Workers

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 20099

IOHA participation in the WHO CC meeting
At the Eighth Meeting of the Global Network of WHO
Collaborating Centres for Occupational Health, Geneva,
19-23 October 2009, IOHA was represented by Dr. Danilo
Cottica, IOHA President, and Prof. Michel Guillemin,
Board Member (Switzerland).

Dr Maria Neira and Dr Danilo Cottica

In the opening of the meeting Danilo Cottica spoke about
IOHA’s role in promoting the field of occupational
hygiene globally.
He noted that IOHA has beenrecognized as an official Non-Governmental Association
by both WHO and ILO, and represents 25,000
occupational hygienists in 24 countries.
IOHA president invited participants to attend the 8th
IOHA International Scientific Conference, to be held in
Rome in September 2010.

Two main points shouldbe emphasized, namely:
the interest of IOHA tosupport the activities ofthe WHO Collaborating
Centres, particularly in
the
field
of
the
Occupational
HealthServices, and, Education
and Training Materials,
Dr Danilo Cottica,
with a view to giving a
IOHA President
better visibility to our
profession. This is under
Objective 3 (GPA 3.1 OH
Services and 3.2 Training for International Capacity
Building)
IOHA’s active collaboration in the elaboration of toolkits
and other resources to improve assessment andmanagement of health risks at the workplace (Objective
2, GPA 2.1). David Zalk, who is an expert in control
banding, is the IOHA representative in this activity.
Moreover, a special session of the meeting was organizedwith the ILO with the objective of strengthening the WHO-ILO collaboration in the field of Occupational Health. The
IOHA President and representative Michel Guillemin took
this opportunity to contact ILO representatives in orderto reconstruct a solid link with this Organization with aview to improving the visibility of Occupational Hygiene.

Workshop on capacity building through education and training in occupational health
Sent by Leslie Nickels
Great Lakes Centers for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health,
University of Illinois E-mail: lnickels@uic.edu
A workshop on education and training for capacity
building in occupational health and safety was held on 22-23 October 2009 in conjunction with the WHO Networkof Collaborating Centers in Occupational Health triennial
meeting. The workshop provided an opportunity for over
25 participants to hear about country and regional efforts
in education and training, discuss basic occupational
health competencies, and ways of promoting
occupational health and safety disciplines.

safety. There will be a future article on this important
topic.

There were many discussions on the creation of alearning repository that would collate and organize
relevant information, on a “user-friendly” site, to support
a number of training activities in occupational health andImportance of practical exercises in training
Group exercises most valued as training method
Creation of local networks with similar skills
Mentorship and access to experts for consultation andassistanceTraining and education programs in South Africa, Benin,
Baltic Countries, India, Thailand, Southern Africa andAfghanistan were presented. Examples of successes,
barriers, and strategies for sustainability included:
Successful approaches:

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200910

Barriers presented:
Lack of infrastructure
Difficulties in communication at many levels, including
languageconstraints
andconflict
betweenorganizations
Lack of adequately trained personnel in occupational
health and safety, therefore excessive workload tomeet the needs
Lack of resources (human and financial)
Outdated regulations or absence of regulations
Strategies for sustainability:
To identify suitable participants, who can master thematerial and are in a position to apply what is learned
Establishment of communication networks to support
the small number of trained personnel
Work within the health care sector
Development of follow-up actions
Establishment of clear project outcomes
Increased awareness at institutional levels
Regulatory changes
The workshop also explored defining core competencies
in basic occupational health and safety. Each of the core
disciplines (occupational medicine, occupational healthnursing, occupational hygiene, and safety) has aprofessional scope of practice and defined educational
background, yet they all share the common goal ofoccupational health and safety. A literature review anddraft of competencies for each of the core disciplines wasdeveloped. The Workshop participants were asked toreview the process and recommend a strategy fordeveloping competencies in basic occupational healthand safety. Challenges of defining competencies with
relevancy to low resource settings included a lack of acommon terminology or agreed upon definitions that areshared among the different professions and an overlap in
specialty or sphere. These challenges seem particularly
responsible for the difficulties that exist when trying toformulate a shared set of competencies based on
professions within OH&S. It appears that the discipline
model for defining competencies will not result in asatisfactory set of competencies in basic occupational
health and safety. The workshop participants discussed
and agreed to the value of a basic set of competencies in
occupational health at various levels. Workshop
participants agreed to form a committee to review draftcompetencies and good practice guidance.
Finally, workshop participants recommended developinga publication for WHO on education and career
opportunities in occupational health and safety and adetailed paper for each occupational health and safety
discipline.

WHO Healthy Workplace Framework: Background and Supporting Literature and Practices
Sent by Joan Burton, Canada, Temporary Advisor to WHO
E-mail: jburtonww@gmail.com
At a Healthy Workplaces Workshop in Geneva, following
the Eighth Network Meeting of the WHO Collaborating
Centres in Occupational Health, a framework and modelfor Healthy Workplaces was presented and discussed byan international audience, who subsequently approved it.
A background document with supporting literature has
been drafted, and is being revised and finalized atpresent. The current draft (dated 10 October 2009) iscurrently available for download from the WHO websiteat:http://www.who.int/entity/occupational_health/healthy_workplace_framework.pdf.
The background document for the healthy workplaceframework is written primarily for scientists, medical
practitioners, and occupational health and safety
practitioners, to provide the scientific basis for a healthy
workplace framework. It is intended to examine theliterature related to healthy workplaces in some depth,
and in the end, to suggest a flexible, evidence-based
framework for healthy workplaces that can be applied by
employers and workers in collaboration, regardless of thesector or size of the enterprise, the degree ofdevelopment of the country, or the regulatory or cultural
background in the country. The model includes both thecontent of the issues that should be addressed in ahealthy workplace, grouped into four large “avenues ofinfluence”; and also the process – one of continual
improvement – that will ensure success and sustainabilityof healthy workplace initiatives.
WHO intends that this document will be followed bypractical Guidance documents that will summarize theframework and provide practical assistance to employers
and workers for implementing the healthy workplaceframework in an enterprise.
The background document is organized into nine
chapters, as follows:
Chapter 1 examines the question, “Why develop aframework for healthy workplaces? Indeed, why beconcerned about healthy workplaces at all?” Some

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200911

answers are provided from ethical, business, and legal
standpoints. A very brief outline of recent WHO global
directives is provided.
Chapter 2 expands on the global picture and describes
key declarations and documents agreed to by the worldcommunity through the WHO and ILO over the past 60
years, looking at both occupational health and safety, andhealth promotion efforts and initiatives.
Chapter 3 looks at the question, “What is a healthy
workplace?” Some general definitions are provided fromthe literature, as well as the definition the WHO healthy
workplace working group is suggesting in this document.
Then perspectives and the work being done in this area ineach of the six WHO Regions are summarized.
The WHO proposed definition of a healthy workplace is:
A healthy workplace is one in which workers andmanagers collaborate to use a continual improvement
process to protect and promote the health, safety andwell-being of workers and the sustainability of theworkplace by considering the following, based on
identified needs:
health and safety concerns in the physical work
environment;
health, safety and well-being concerns in thepsychosocial
work
environment
includingorganization of work and workplace culture;
personal health support/resources in the workplace;andways of participating in the community to improve
the health of workers, their families and othermembers of the community.
Chapter 4 examines the complex interrelationships
between and among work, the physical and mental
health of workers, the community, and the health of theenterprise and society. This is a key chapter that
supports with hard scientific evidence both the ethicalcase for a healthy workplace and the business case. It
begins to flesh out the details of which factors under thecontrol of employers and workers affect the health,safety and well-being of workers and the success of anenterprise. These factors will later provide the basis forthe suggested framework.

interventions that work and those that do not. Given thediscussion about evaluation literature in the previous
chapter, this section provides primarily evidence fromsystematic reviews of the literature.
Chapter 7 discusses the “how to” of creating a healthy
workplace, and introduces the concept of continual
improvement or OSH management systems. It also
includes a discussion of some of the key features of themany continual improvement models; and examines theimportance of integration.
Chapter 8 takes a step back from the framework andlooks at healthy workplace issues in the “big picture” –the global legal and policy context. Clearly, while thisdocument is focusing on things employers and workers
can do, the success of their efforts cannot help but be
influenced, for better or for worse, by the external
regulatory and cultural context of the country and society
in which they operate. This chapter discusses legislationand some of the standards setting bodies and their workas they relate to workplace health, safety and well-being.
Chapter 9 is the chapter that presents the model andframework for a healthy workplace that WHO issuggesting via this document. It is intended as a natural
outcome and conclusion to the synthesis of informationand evidence presented in earlier chapters. Both thecontent of a healthy workplace program in the form offour avenues of influence, and the suggested continual
improvement process are discussed. The four avenues
are represented by the four bullets in the proposed WHO
definition of a healthy workplace, above. The eight steps
in the continual improvement process are summarized as
Mobilize, Assemble, Assess, Prioritize, Plan, Do, Evaluate,
Improve. Both the content and the process, as well ascore principles, are represented graphically in the model
below.

Chapter 5 discusses the issue of evaluation. While there
are many things employers and workers can do, how dothey know which ones will be the most effective and cost-effective? This chapter looks at some of the issues
related to the quality of published studies and evidence.
Chapter 6 then examines the scientific evidence for
IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200912

From NIOSH, USA
NIOSH Review: Qualitative Risk Characterization and Management of Occupational Hazards: Control Banding (CB)
Link forwarded by Marilyn Fingerhut, NIOSH E-mail: maf2@cdc.gov
The majority of chemical substances in commerce haveno established occupational exposure limits (OELs). In theabsence of established OELs, employers and workers
often lack the necessary guidance on the extent to which
occupational exposures should be controlled. A strategy
to control occupational exposures that may have value
when there are no relevant OELs is known as control
banding (CB).

strategy for workplaces in the United States has beenraised, warranting a critical review of its concepts andapplications.

CB is a qualitative strategy for assessing and managing
hazards associated with chemical exposures in theworkplace. The question about the utility of the CB

For more information or questions about the document,
contact T.J. Lentz (TLentz@cdc.gov) or Catherine
Beaucham (CBeaucham@cdc.gov).

The report, presented in NIOSH Publication No. 2009152, is the result of a review of the published literatureand related proceedings on CB, and it is available online
at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2009-152/

From NIOH, SOUTH AFRICA
The NIOH hosts “International Course - WHO Modules in Occupational Health”
Sent by: Claudina Nogueira, NIOH, South Africa
E-mail: claudina.nogueira@nioh.nhls.ac.za
The National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH), a
WHO Collaborating Centre (CC) in Occupational Health(OH), hosted the international course WHO Modules in
Occupational Health: risk assessment and managementof chemical and other exposures in agricultural, industrial
and health sectors, from 28 September to 2 October
2009. The course was designed to contribute to theknowledge of the novice professional, as well as theexperienced OH practitioner. The information found in
the modules is applicable to all with an interest in
keeping the workforce healthy and safe: occupational
hygienists, occupational health nurses, occupational
medicine physicians, public health officers, policy makers,
labour inspectors, and worker health and safetyadvocates.
The WHO Modules in OH were developed by a team ofexperts from the Division of Environmental andOccupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health,
University of Illinois - Chicago, USA, also a WHO CC in OH.
The modules were developed to execute the 49th World
Health Assembly Global Strategy for OH; the materials
complement the effort of the International Programme
on Chemical Safety (IPCS) – Global Implementation
Strategy on Occupational Risk Management.
The materials are case-based modules in the specificsectors of agriculture, manufacturing, and the healthservice; the course combines lectures, demonstrations,problem solving and building of skills through interactive,
small group and individual activities, and is designed
around the following principles:

Workers are entitled to a healthy and safe work
environment,
Risk evaluation requires a systematic approach that isessential for control and prevention of work related
injuries and illnesses,
Sentinel health events have been traditionally used as
an indicator of exposure to an occupational hazard.
However, currently there is enough knowledge of
workplace hazards to intervene prior to an adverse
health outcome.
The course was organised and coordinated by Ms InakshiNaik, Head of Section: Analytical Services, and her teamat the NIOH, in close collaboration with the course
presenters. Generous sponsorship and support from the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH), USA; and Lancet and Ampath Laboratories inSouth Africa, allowed the course registration fees to be
kept as low as possible. Interactive activities included site
visits to two different workplaces: a hospital laundry andtwo specialised laboratories of the NIOH.
The following experts from the University of Illinois,
Chicago, were the main course presenters:
Prof Leslie Nickels – Executive Director and Clinical
Assistant Professor; specialist in training effectiveness,
programme evaluation, and health and safety
interventions for underserved populations;
Prof Lorraine Conroy – Executive Director and Professor;
specialistin
workplace
exposure
assessment,

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200913

characterization of workplace contaminant sources, andventilation system model development and validation;
Prof Preethi Pratap – Research Assistant Professor, withinterests in health and safety training in occupational andpublic health, exposure to workers from hazardous waste
sites, and environmental epidemiology.
Ms Jennifer McGowan from the University of Illinois was
the course evaluator as well as a facilitator, and Dr Lalitha
Burra from Nayati International, India, assisted with thefacilitation as she coordinated this same course in India in
2008.

Anticipate and recognize workplace hazards
Describe exposure to workplace hazards and theirhealth effects
Generate recommendations for preventing exposureusing available resources and technologies
Develop a programme plan for addressing workplace
hazards
The week-long course was attended by close to 90
participants from both public and private sectors. The
majority of participants were South African, the largest
group being from the Department of Public Service
Administration (DPSA), followed by the Department of
Health – both National and Gauteng Provincial. Twoparticipants were from the National Department ofLabour, and four participants were from African countries– Angola, Mali, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. A number ofstaff members from the NIOH and the NHLS also
attended.
All participants who attended the full course were issued
with attendance certificates on the last day.
Furthermore, a certificate of competency (from the
University of Illinois - Chicago and the NIOH,
Johannesburg) will be issued to all participants scoringhigher than 70% on post-course performance- andknowledge-based evaluations.

Course presenters and facilitators

A CD of the full course was created as an Integrated ELearning Platform – essentially a video recording of thepresentations, to be used as a training tool by trainers for
future capacity building. The E-Learning Platform
initiative was spearheaded by Dr Barry Kistnasamy,
Executive Director of the NIOH.
On completion of the course, the participants were
equipped to:Complete an occupational history
Recognize a work related injury or illness
Conduct a qualitative assessment of a workplace
Conduct an incident investigation
Categorize exposure groups
Complete an exposure and health effect rating chart
Develop a strategy for collecting quantitative data
Recommend intervention strategies for reducing
exposure
Begin a programme plan for various workplaces

Course sponsors
The aims of the course were to develop and strengthen
the following approaches in OH:

The course WHO Modules in OH is directly in line with the
NIOH core function of conducting outreach and training
activities to build capacity in occupational health andsafety in southern Africa. Furthermore, the course had an
inbuilt “train-the-trainer” component which will reinforce
the capacity building benefit in the region. A number oftrainers were identified from the participants; the

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200914

trainers will continue working in close collaboration with
the NIOH to implement this programme. The main
objective will be to contribute to the development ofscarce skills and resources in occupational andenvironmental health in the respective sectors.
This course is also directly in line with the overarching
aims of the current WHO Global Network Plan for

Occupational Health (2009-2012), which is driven by the
Global Plan of Action (GPA) for Workers’ Health 20082017. The course is a project titled “Fundamentals of
Occupational Health and Safety” within GPA Objective 2:
Healthy Workplace Programmes, and more specificallywithin Priority 2.1: Develop practical toolkits for theassessment and management of occupational health risks(chemical, physical, biological, psychosocial).

News from the ILO“Shaping Destiny” - ASSE Signs MOU with ILO
Sent by: Ilise L Feitshans E-mail: feitshans@ilo.org
andChris Sanford E-mail: chris@fsmmag.com
The American Society of Safety Engineers signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with the International
Labour Organization at the Safety 2009 Professional
Development Conference and Exposition in San Antonio,
Texas, on 30 June 2009, agreeing to work together toprevent workplace injuries and illnesses.
A Geneva, Switzerland based agency of the United
Nations, the ILO works to bring together governments,
employers and workers of its member states to promote
decent work throughout the world.
The MOU states that ASSE and the ILO will work together
towards the common objective of preventing illness andinjuries in the workplace across all industry sectors
through advocacy, promoting awareness, knowledge
development, information dissemination and theapplication of relevant standards and industry bestpractices in the community and workplace.
“As there are no global marketplace boundaries today,
and with a large number of our 32,000 occupationalsafety, health and environmental professional members
continuing to work in countries and on projects aroundthe world, this agreement will help us move forward inpreventing injuries and illnesses worldwide,” said ASSE
President Warren K. Brown, CSP, ARM, CSHM. “Thisagreement also reflects the value of the SH&E profession
and ASSE’s growth.”
The MOU is an example of ASSE’s goal of expanding its
outreach to other safety, health and environmentalorganizations, said Dennis Hudson, ASSE’s director ofProfessional Affairs.
“Sound occupational safety and health programs that
implement best strategies are the grease for themachinery of powerful economic engines,” said Ilise L.
Feitshans, JD, ScM, who is coordinating the 5th edition of
the ILO Encyclopedia of Occupational Safety and Health.
“Without the information we provide through theseworkplace safety and health programs, no employer cansurvive because accidents and disease are not simply
expensive, but wasteful.”
Feitshans said the agreement will help workers andemployers by providing a network of experts that fosters
knowledge sharing. “This sharing will include information
on international standards, national legislation, technicalguidance, methodologies, accident and disease statistics,
best practices, educational and training tools, researchand hazard and risk assessment data.”
A 90-year-old organization formed at the Treaty of
Versailles, the ILO does the same work as ASSE, said
Feitshans, “exporting safety and health information that
could save many lives.”“Occupational health and safety management systems
with time-tested prevention strategies and conscientious
implementation do much more for the economy thanmerely reduce the costs of accidents and the overallburden of disease to society. Applying the best practices
and well understood methods of reducing risks through aclear occupational health management program preventsneedless waste, saves money, and, therefore, is a lifelinethat keeps marginal employers afloat in turbulent
economic times.”
The ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety
is available in hard copy in 12 languages, and the goal of
the 5th edition is to “create a living document that is true
to the heritage of the first edition of the encyclopaedia

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200915

that was put together by truly great people like Dr. Alice
Hamilton, the mother of industrial medicine whoinvented the Right to Know,” said Feitshans. “Thechallenge is to do it in a time of information overload; toserve as a filter to help people who have data to
determine if that data is good, shaping destiny in aparadigm appropriate the 21st Century.”

Signing Ceremony San Antonio: Chris Patton, President ASSE, Dennis Hudson, Government Affairs, Warren Brown,
Immediate Past President ASSE and Ilise L Feitshans of ILO SAFEWORK (Photos provided by courtesy of ASSE)

News from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)
Sent by: Jukka TAKALA, Director EU-OSHA
E-mail: takala@osha.europa.eu
andBirgit MÜLLER E-mail: muller@osha.europa.eu
There are many interesting and important news, in many
languages, on the EU-OSHA Website: http://
osha.europa.eu/. Some examples are hereby presented.
Interview with the director of EU-OSHA, Dr Jukka Takala- 28 questions to the Director
A lively and very innovative interview withthe director of EU-OSHA, Dr Jukka Takala, isavailable online at: http://osha.europa.eu/
en/press/photos/jukka_takala/
Agency_videos
Dr Takala is presented at his office in Bilbao,
giving his views on the most important
topics related to occupational health and
Dr Jukkasafety in Europe and EU-OSHA contribution
Takalato the improvement of European workers’
working conditions. Through 28 questions, Dr Takala
speaks about OSH policies and strategies in the EU, theAgency’s European Information Campaigns, the evolutionof occupational health and safety in the last years,
statistics and figures, and the current economic crisis andits repercussion on health and safety at workplaces.
Work-related stress - one of the biggest OSH challenges
in EuropeStress is the second most frequently reported work-

related health problem, affecting 22% of workers fromthe EU 27. Studies suggest that stress is a factor in
between 50% and 60% of all lost working days. This
represents a huge cost in terms of both human distressand impaired economic performance.
A
new report on work-related stress based oninternational and national statistics is available at:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/TE-81-08-478-EN-C_OSH_in_figures_stress_at_work/view
Among many others, a video on this subject – concerning
the implementation of the European social partners'
autonomous framework agreement on work-related
stress – is available online (in 22 languages) at: http://
osha.europa.eu/en/press/photos/topics/.
Practical Solutions
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
monitors, collects and analyses scientific findings,
statistical information and prevention measures. It also
supports the exchange and sharing of information. If you
are involved in workplace health and safety, you can use
thissectiontofindpractical
information, guidelines and case studies to help solve avariety of problems. Good practice that has been
implemented successfully in one workplace can beadapted and used elsewhere. However, before good

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200916

practice information is applied, an assessment of thehazards and risks present in the workplace should be
carried out, making reference to relevant national
legislation.
While EU-OSHA is not responsible for the content of
external internet sites to which it links, we aim to ensurethat we only link to good practice information that isreliable and meets identified criteria for prevention.
These include following: the “prevention hierarchy” setout in EU legislation, which includes starting withprevention at source and prioritizing collective measuresover individual ones, and, ensuring the participation ofworkers.
More detailed information may be found at:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/practical-solutions/09-1013_Good_Practice.pdf
andhttp://osha.europa.eu/en/practical-solutions
OSH in the school curriculum: requirements and activities
in the EU Member States
To underpin occupational safety and health (OSH)
education in schools and colleges, it is necessary toformalize it in curriculum requirements. This report
reviews how the Member States are including OSH andrisk education in their national curricula. The reportshows that there is considerable progress and activity inthis respect at both primary and secondary educationlevels in terms of both implemented and planned actionsin the Member States. The report also identifies somesuccess factors for mainstreaming OSH into education
curricula.
The full report is available online at:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/
TE3008521ENC

Fact Sheet: Assessment, elimination and substantial
reduction of occupational risks.
Summary of an Agency report
Risk assessment is the basis for successful health andsafety management, and the key to reducing workrelated accidents and occupational diseases. If
implemented well, it can improve not only workplacesafety and health, but business performance in general.
The report supports the European ‘healthy workplaces’
campaign 2008/09 on risk assessment by providing
information on successful interventions in the workplace
to eliminate or substantially reduce risks. The report is
aimed at those who are responsible for carrying out risk
assessments in the workplace and for making decisions
on preventive measures.
Further
detailsat:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/
publications/factsheets/en_85.pdf
Healthy Workplaces Campaign on risk assessment
comes to an end
The closing event, held in Bilbao on 17 November,showed important results achieved in the 2 yearscampaign. Two major projects of the European Agency
were also presented: preliminary results of the European
Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks(ESENER), and the free Online Risk Assessment (ORA)
tool, which will make it much easier for SMEs to carry out
risk assessments. EU-OSHA Director Jukka Takala, joinedby Sven Otto Littorin, Swedish Minister of Employment
and Celestino Corbacho, Spanish Minister of Employment
and Immigration, highlighted the strategic importance ofrisk assessment in these times of economic crisis.
Further details at:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/campaigns/hw2008/
europeansummit
and
http://osha.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/healthyworkplaces-campaign-on-risk-assessment-comes-to-anend

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200917

Estimations on the Occupational Burden of Disease and Injury
Sent by: Jukka TAKALA, Director EU-OSHA
E-mail: takala@osha.europa.eu
In view of the importance of this subject and the greatneed for further work in this field, it is important to sharewith readers the following information.
Paper on “Global trend according to estimated numberof occupational accidents and fatal work-relateddiseases at region and country level”, by Päivi
Hämäläinen, Kaija Leena Saarela and Jukka Takala(Published in the Journal of Safety Research Volume 40,
Issue 2, 2009, Pages 125-139, National Safety Council andElsevier Ltd)This important paper is available online, by courtesy ofElsevier, at: http://osha.europa.eu/en/press/articles. The
abstract is hereby presented.

the case of occupational accidents and the years 2000
and 2002 in the case of work-related diseases.
Results
The total number of occupational accidents and fatal
work-related diseases has increased, but the fatality rates
per 100,000 workers have decreased. There were almost
360,000 fatal occupational accidents in 2003 and almost
2 million fatal work-related diseases in 2002. Every day
more than 960,000 workers get hurt because of
accidents. Each day 5,330 people die because of workrelated diseases.

Background
Although occupational accidents and work-relateddiseases have been of interest for a long time, due to lackof proper recording and notification systems the official
numbers of occupational accidents and work-relateddiseases are missing for many countries. Presently, thedemand for effectiveness and an interest in the economic
aspects of accidents have increased prevention activities
at company and country levels.

Conclusions
Information on occupational accidents and work-relateddiseases is needed so that countries may understandbetter the importance of occupational health and safety
at country and company level. Especially companies indeveloping countries are not familiar with occupationalsafety and health. Statistical data is essential for accident
prevention; it is a starting point for the safety work.
Those who would want to have more detailed
information on this study, may contact either Ms. Päivi
Hämäläinen at the TUT (paivi.hamalainen@tut.fi) or Dr
Jukka Takala (takala@osha.europa.eu).

Methods
Occupational accident data of selected countries and ofWorld Health Organization regional divisions together
with the global burden of disease were used in estimating
global occupational accidents and fatal work-relateddiseases. The trend of global occupational accidents andwork-related diseases is presented at region and country
levels. The years 1998, 2001, and 2003 are compared inEuropean burden of disease and injury at work on the
EU-OSHA blog
Among many other topics, discussions specifically on thissubject have been started in the new EU-OSHA blog:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/blog
The direct link is:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/blog/latest-news-on-theglobal-and-european-burden-of-disease-and-injury-at-

Contributions from Readers
INTERNATIONAL
International Training Modules for Occupational Hygiene - status report November 2009
Sent by: Roger Alesbury E-mail: roger.alesbury@uk.bp.com
Steve Bailey E-mail: steve.r.bailey@gsk.com
Brian Davies E-mail: bdavies@uow.edu.au
During the last few months there have been a number ofsignificant and exciting developments. The name being
used to describe the organisation handling thedevelopment of the international training modules is 'theOccupational Hygiene Training Association' (OHTA). A
company limited by guarantee has been registered under

the name OHTA and rules of operation are being
developed. This body will work under the guidance of
IOHA and its member organisations and its board
members will be drawn from IOHA and IOHA member
organisations.
The success behind this project has been the cooperation

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200918

between occupational hygiene bodies across the world.
To support these aims there have been many workshops
and discussions and agreements have been set out
through a series of Memorandums of Understanding - a
simple way to set out and demonstrate shared goals andambitions to work together.
The original Memorandum of Understanding between
IOHA members societies now has 10 signatures BOHS
(UK), AIOH (Australia), AIHA (USA), OHSI (Ireland), SAIOH(South Africa), HKIOEH (Hong Kong), SOFHYT (France),
MIHA (Malaysia), NYF (Norway) and ABHO (Brazil).
At the IOHA board meeting in October, the IOHA Board
agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with
OHTA. As part of this IOHA consents to the use of the
IOHA logo with the statement “Supported by IOHA” oncertificates, website and training documentation. IOHA
will also nominate a representative to the governing
board
Together with AIOH and BOHS, the IOHA board has also
agreed to provide funding toward the development of a
website where the training materials can be hosted andaccessed. Work is now progressing on the developmentof this learning portal to hold the materials and toprovide links to participating IOHA member organisations
and examining boards. The site will also have links to'Approved' course providers. These are organisations
who meet the basic criteria to run the courses and havebeen approved to offer the student assessment process.
These links will enable site users to identify where andwhen courses are being offered. All course materials will
be available free of charge and we hope to have thefacility available by the year end. When the site iscomplete in March 2009, it will facilitate feedback andupdating of hosted materials on a 'Wiki' style site.
One of the principles of this work is to improve the levelof training in occupational hygiene and to provide a
recognised scheme for qualifications at the intermediate/
technician level - to complement the higher levelprofessional qualifications recognised under the IOHA
NAR scheme. NAR examination bodies are being
consulted and, at the PCIH in Vancouver (October 2009),
ABIH, the BOHS Faculty of Occupational Hygiene and theCanadian Registration Board of Occupational Hygienists
signed an MoU to work together in the development of acommon platform for credentialing individuals at thisintermediate level.

FROM COUNTRIES, BRAZILThe IX Ibero-American Congress on Occupational Health
Sent by L.C. Morrone, Professor - Medical Sciences of Santa Casa of São Paulo, Brazil
E- mail: morronelc@uol.com.br
The IX Ibero-American Congress of Occupational Medicine
was held in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 3-7 October 2009, with
662 participants, mostly occupational physicians, who
represented 26 Brazilian states, as follows: 306 (more than80%) from Bahia, 99 from São Paulo, 31 from Rio de Janeiro,
31 from Minas Gerais, 26 from Paraná, 21 from Goiás and 21
from Espírito Santo. Young professionals accounted for 5.2%of the participants. There were also representatives fromother countries, namely, Mexico, Chile, Portugal andArgentina.
A few abstracts are copied below, as examples of papers
presented in this event. The full papers and otherpresentations, as well as further information on this event
may be obtained by sending an e-mail to the author.
Occupational Diseases seen by the Specialized Outpatient
ServiceofOccupational
Medicine of Santa Casa de São Paulo - by Juliana Midori
Hayashide,
Resident
Physician in Occupational Medicine at the Faculty of Medical
Sciences of Santa Casa of São Paulo
Introduction: The outpatient department of occupational
diseases of Santa Casa - São Paulo, SP (Brazil) attends toworkers referred by doctors from different specialties in theInstitution and by external services. The primary focus is toestablish a causal nexus between the cases of disease andworking conditions, in order to prevent disease and promote
the health of workers. Whenever necessary, workplaces are
visited in order to complement the information obtained
from the examined worker. This service is provided once aweek by the occupational medicine residents and three
mentors. A progressive increase in the number of patientshas been observed since 2008, mainly due to improved
diagnostic capabilities of the service. Objectives: 1) To
describe the profile of the examined patients, the diagnosed
diseases and the origin of the referrals. 2) To present
summaries of five cases considered to be illustrative.
Materials and Methods: Review of medical records andreports. Results: A total of 294 patients were examined,
most of them being male industrial workers. The mostfrequently reported occupational diseases were synovial
disorders, dermatoses and problems related to tendons andimpairment of intervertebral disks. In order to illustratesome of the aspects observed, a brief description of five
following cases was provided, some of them withphotographs: 1- lumbar disk hernia in worker in a blowing
ejector machine; 2-irritant contact dermatitis in an offset
printing operator; 3- incapacity for work in patient withsequel from cranio-encephalic trauma; 4- tinker
occupational asthma; 5- aptitude for work of occupational
examination for one person with special needs.

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200919

Occupational Risks in the Production of Lead Solder andLead Anodes, by Flávia Souza e Silva de Almeida –Occupational Physician
Objective: To describe and analyze the occupational risks
and their health impact, as well as the conditions ofenvironmental hygiene in an enterprise producing solders
and anodes for electroplating, and to identify possible
improvements in the work environment. Material andMethods: This study consisted of an exploratory analysis ofdata obtained from both the Programme for the Preventionof Environmental Hazards and the Occupational Medicine
Programme of this enterprise; the latter included
anamnesis, as well as physical and complementary medical
exams of workers. Occupational hazards in the workplace
were also evaluated. Results and Discussion: The medical
examination disclosed seven workers with non occupational
conditions and three possible cases of work-relateddiseases. Among the occupational diseases, there were twocases of contact dermatitis due to contact with rubber, andone case of lead poisoning. The lead poisoning diagnosis was
based on abnormal lead blood levels (Pb-B) and symptomsof headache and abdominal pain. The lead in blood (Pb-B)
evaluations of all the workers disclosed that two of themwere at the upper limit and other two, between acceptedvalues and the maximum biological permitted level. In theevaluation of δ-amino-levulinic acid in urine (ALA-U) all
values were within the normal range. The concentrations ofenvironmental Pb measured varied according to theworker’s activity; they were around and above theacceptable occupational exposure limit for workers in ovens
and below the action level in other points (e.g., centre of theshed, extrusion machine and eating room). There was
exposure to noise at the level of 95 dB (A) for the operatorof the stacking machine and, 83 dB (A) for the general
helpers. From the evaluation of heat stress, it was concluded
that the performance of certain tasks, such as oven work,
should not be permitted without appropriate control
measures. The obtained illumination levels were inagreement with the accepted Brazilian standards.
Conclusion: Although some aspects of the working
conditions and physical environment in this enterprise may
be considered satisfactory, changes must still be made in thework environment in order to decrease health hazards andensure better comfort for the workers.

Ergonomic Risk Analysis of Work in Grinding Stations in a
Steel Foundry, by Patrícia Rigobelo Chaud - Resident
Physician in Occupational Medicine at the Faculty of Medical
Sciences of Santa Casa of São Paulo.
Introduction: The industrialization and globalization withdemands of increase in productivity brought reduction of
costs, which caused important problems such as: alterationsof the biological rhythm and long working hours. One of thenegative consequences to the health of workers was theincrease of incidence of musculoskeletal diseases related towork (MSDs). Particularly in metallurgical industries there
are work positions, which represent important problems
concerning physical effort, body posture and demands forlong periods of standing position. Objectives: 1. To evaluate
body posture, movements and difficulties among 147 people
who work with grinders in a company of steel melting. 2. To
relate possible complaints with the work station 3. To
suggest changes aiming at a better adaptation between theworkers and their jobs. Materials and Methods: 1. The studyof the activities carried out by workers dealing with grinders
through observations of their workstations. 2. The use ofergonomic tools, such as check lists for the evaluation of
MSDs risk (e.g., Suzanne Rodgers check list and the semiquantitative criteria of Moore & Garg). 3. Analysis of 147
files searching for years of employment, gender, age,
appointments reason and diagnosed diseases. Moreover,there were interviews with 30 workers who deal withgrinders in order to discover their difficulties and complaints
concerning the performance of their tasks. Results andDiscussion: The upper limbs upward movements and thegreat effort required are responsible for various complaints
and lesions. Continuous cervical flexion, maintenance of an
inadequate spinal curve, inadequate body posture andmovements, as well as long orthostatism are responsible forthe back complaints. There were 25 workers on medical
leave. Among the 147 workers examined, 45% complainedof pain, especially in upper limbs and back pains, and, 22.4%
had already developed an occupational disease. Conclusion/
recommendation: In order to avoid health hazards andimprove of quality of life of these workers, the occurrence of
biomechanical factors leading to MSDs must be avoided or
reduced, through improvements both in the equipment andwork practices.

CANADA
News from the IRSST
IRSST launches OHS scientific watch in blog form
Sent by: Maura Tomi E-mail: Maura.Tomi@irsst.qc.ca
The “Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et ensécurité du travail” (IRSST) is making accessible, in blog
form, the scientific information documented by its
Strategic Watch Department. This scientific information
comes from the daily monitoring of more than 650 Web
pages dealing with occupational health and safety (OHS)

and the information collected by its personnel during
discussions, workshops, forums, colloquia, conferences or
any other event addressing the major issues of OHS
research.
Aimed at all audiences, but particularly the scientific

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200920

community and OHS professionals and stakeholders,these blogs cover nine themes:
Occupational health and safety in general
Noise and vibration
Contaminants
Work context
Protective equipment
Machine safety
Occupational rehabilitation
OHS statistics
Musculoskeletal disorders
In inaugurating these blogs, the IRSST's president-CEO,Marie Larue, explained that by “choosing to make theresults of scientific watch accessible by means of amodern and rapid tool with a search engine, the IRSST ismaking relevant information available to Web surfers
that can be useful to the research community as well as
to the working community.”

By going to the http://comm.irsst.qc.ca/blogs/veille, Web
surfers can also sign up to receive alerts by e mail,subscribe to RSS feeds, or even submit comments to be
published on the site.
Polyurethane foam spraying - Good practices guide
A new good practices guide was developed jointly by theInstitut de recherché Robert-Sauvé en santé et ensécurité du travail (IRSST) and the Association paritairepour la santé et la sécurité du travail du secteur de laconstruction (ASP Construction). Its intended use is tomake people aware of the hazards, risks and risk factors1
associated with the application of thermal insulation as
well as means of controlling them. The composition anduses of polyurethane foam represent three types ofhazards during spraying, namely chemical and ergonomic
hazards, as well as those related to safety.
To download the document, please visit:
http://www.irsst.qc.ca/fr/_publicationirsst_100503.html
The document is also available in French:
http://www.irsst.qc.ca/en/_publicationirsst_100494.html

CHILE
Determinants of quality of life in Chilean workers – a study by Marisol Concha, Javier Labbé and Juan Giaconi (ACHS –Asociación Chilena de Seguridad)
Sent by: Marisol Concha E-mail: gsamcb@achs.cl
Introduction:
Quality of life (QoL), represents the subjective
assessment of the sense of well-being, and has been
increasingly used as an indicator in community
interventions and health surveys. This paper examines
the relationship between QoL, demographic and working
characteristics.
Methods:
A cross-sectional questionnaire survey including
perception of QoL, sex, age, socioeconomic
characteristics, conditions of the working environment
and economic sectors was conducted in Chile. A total of2857 workers between the ages of 20-60 participated.
QoL scores of workers were compared a base individual.
Working characteristics and demographic variables wereanalyzed using univariate and multivariable linear
regression using SPSS.
Results:
Multivariable linear regression showed that to befemale, old age, experience of own illness, experience of
injuries at work, experience of injuries not at work,
working in commerce and transportation and inadequate

working conditions are significant predictors of reportinga lower score in quality of life (P<0.01).
Highsocioeconomic status, working in agriculture andmanufacturing are significant mitigating factors in the
regression equation for the quality of life scores.
(P<0.01). Working in services, construction and mining
were not significant factors with quality of life score(P<0.01). Univariate analysis and logistic regression
showed similar results.
Discussion
Instruments in which assess the changes in the perceived
QoL of workers are of increasingly importance asoccupational healthcare providers and insurance
institutions are challenged to evaluate their programs.
Findings from this study may help to use new instrumentsfrom the patient's perspective to monitor and evaluate
different interventions. This
research should be
conducted in samples representative of high and low risk
workers, so that results may generalize to thebroader population. One of the main findings is that, in
this study, accidents at work pay a mayor role on
reducing QoL of the Chilean workers.

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200921

GERMANY
How safe is Control Banding?
Sent by: Martin Tischer E-mail: tischer.martin@baua.bund.deControl banding (CB) has experienced a favourable global
reception in recent years. Promotion of CB by organizations
such as AIHA, ACGIH, IOHA, NIOSH, HSE, BAuA, ILO, GTZ, andWHO has resulted in CB now being used worldwide by small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developed anddeveloping countries. Although CB has received
international acclaim, thus far only a few attempts havebeen made to validate and verify the approach on ascientific basis. Hence the Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz
und Arbeitsmedizin (BAuA) has launched a research projecton the evaluation of the protection level of the German
Control Banding scheme which is called “Easy to use
Workplace Control Scheme” (EMKG).
The evaluation starts with measurement data from BAuA
field studies (representing the branches: offset printing,screen printing, optician workshops, and furnitureproduction) and corresponding OELs for the chemicals
involved. The comparison of measured data with OELs
reveal that almost no exceedance of OELs was observed inany of the four branches, indicating a high level ofprotection.
In a subsequent step, a Monte Carlo Simulation was
employed to explore whether the empirical results can begeneralized using a probabilistic model. It was found that CB
does not (at least potentially) guarantee a high protectionlevel in either case. On the other hand, the Monte Carlo
Simulation showed that compliance was high for volatileliquids used in closed systems and for solids in the presenceof local exhaust ventilation. Overall it is therefore concluded
that further validation is necessary which should to be basedon empirical data from a wide variety of workplaces. The
detailed research results have been published in:
The full paper has been published as: Tischer M, BredendiekKämper S, Poppek U, Packroff R. (2009) “How safe is Control
Banding? Integrated Evaluation by Comparing OELs with
Measurement Data and Using Monte Carlo Simulation”,
Ann. Occup. Hyg. 53(5):449-62

THE NETHERLANDS
Web-Based Tool for Exposure Assessment and Control Banding
Sent by Andrea Hiddinga, Representative from The Netherlands to the IOHA Board
E-mail: Andrea.Hiddinga@arbounie.nl
The Stoffenmanager is a web-based tool for exposure
assessment and control banding, available online, free ofcharge, in Dutch and English, at: www.stoffenmanager.nl
The validated model is accepted under the EU REACH
regulation.
In October 2009 the 10.000th user was registered. Under

contract of the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs andEmployment a new version 4.5 will be developed in 2010.
Among others, new features will include: a control banding
nano-module, PIMEX-visualizing nano-exposure, a GHS proof
control banding module and a REACH Exposure Scenario
report format. For further more information, please,contact: henri.heussen@arbounie.nl

PORTUGAL
Wood dust exposure and work-related symptoms in Portuguese furniture workers
Sent by: Olga Mayan
Institute of Higher Education of Maia -ISMAI
E-mail: olgamayan@netcabo.pt
Several health hazards have been associated with exposure
to wood dust in workplaces. In general, exposure to wood
dust is considered to have an irritating effect on eyes, noseand throat, in addition to pulmonary function impairment(Malo et al, 1995; Enarsom et al, 1998; RTECS, 2003). The
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has
classified wood dust as a human carcinogen based on
epidemiological evidence (IARC, 1995, NTP. 2000). The
European Union (EU) directive (1000/38) has also classified

wood dust as carcinogenic, and has set the occupational
exposure limit (OEL) for hardwood inhalable dust to 5 mg/
m3. In 2003, the Scientific Committee for Occupational
Exposure Limits (SCOEL) had proposed an OEL of 1-1.5 mg/
m3 (inhalable fraction) (Bolt et al, 2003). The Portuguese
standard for occupational exposure limits (NP 1796:2007)
recommends that wood dust exposure should never exceed
1 mg/m3.

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200922

In view of the possible cancer risk and other healthconcerns, a research project on occupational exposure towood dust was carried out in 2001-2004, with support fromthe programme Quality of Life and Management of Living
Resources of the European Union (Project: Risk Assessmentof wood dust: assessment of exposure, health effects andbiological mechanisms - WOOD-RISK; coordinator: Finnish
Institute of Occupational Health - FIOH). Occupational
exposure to wood dust was assessed in a separate
subproject (acronym: WOODEX) with the help from national
experts from the 15 members states of the EU, referred to
as EU-15, that include Portugal. A country questionnaire, acompany survey (in Finland, France, Germany and Spain),
exposure measurements (from Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom) andlocal expert judgments were used to generate preliminary
estimates of exposure to different types of wood dust andlevel of exposure. Estimates based on the obtained results
indicated that high levels of exposure occurred in theconstruction and furniture sectors.
The Portuguese questionnaire results showed that the
number of workers exposed to inhalable wood dust was 101
thousands and that 56% of these workers were exposed tolevels of wood dust higher than 1 mg/m3 (Timo Kauppinen
et al., 2006).
Theses results showed that, in Portugal, wood dust exposure
is an issue of concern that needs a better characterization.
For this purpose, a cross sectional study of wood dust
exposure in furniture factories (main sector of the woodprocessing industry) was performed in one county inPortugal.
The study was promoted by Associação Empresarial dePaços de Ferreira (AEPF) - a commercial and industrial
association - with the scientific coordination of the National
Institute of Health (INSA) and the Medical School of the
University of Porto (FMUP) (Olga Mayan et al). This study
aimed at assessing the wood dust exposure andinvestigating the occurrence of work-related symptoms. The
study, which included 17 factories, was performed in theyears 2005-2007. A total of 505 woodworkers (382 males;
123 females) were interviewed through a physicianadministrated questionnaire, based on the standardized
respiratory questionnaire (American Thoracic, 1987). The
questions referred to work-related symptoms (chronic
respiratory and irritation symptoms), demographic
characteristics, occupational history and smoking habits.
Wood dust exposure was assessed from personal and static
air sampling. Closed face filter holders (Millipore, MA, USA)housing a pre-weighed 37 mm diameter membrane filter(Millipore 0.8μm) were used. The cassettes were connected
to portable, battery operated, pumps (SKC Aircheck 2000),
sampling at flow rates of 1.2 l/min1, and the NIOSH method
0500 was used for gravimetric dust measurements.
A total of 1580 personal and 35 static measurements weretaken to determine personal exposure to wood dust and thetime-weighted average was calculated for each workplace.
The results have shown that the overall inhalable wood dust
concentration varied between 0.15 - 29.5 mg/m3 with amean value of 2.6 mg/m3; 5.4 (geometric mean; geometricstandard deviation).
Among other findings, a detailed analysis of the air
monitoring data showed that: sanding operations, mainly
manual sanding, and cutting were consistently
associated to higher dust concentrations; the lowest
exposures were found during assembling, handling andpacking; dust emissions from portable type sanding
machines were considerably reduced by the use of lowvolume high-velocity type extraction, and, dust exposure
was decreased by adequate exhaust ventilation;”
Personal exposure to wood dust was calculated using
measurements and information collected by work task (e.g.,
cutting, sanding, and sanding+ cutting, assembling /handling / packing). Cumulative exposure to dust wascalculated for each worker by multiplying the duration of thework by the intensity of exposure (years.mg.m-3).
It was observed that 61% of the workers had respiratory
symptoms; 37.7% had nasal symptoms (epistaxis more thanonce a week. 9.2%); 29.5% had bronchial symptoms and10.6% associated both (“respiratory and nasal symptoms”).
Other reported symptoms included red (burning) eyes
(21.9%) and skin disorders (5.6%).
Multivariate linear regression analysis showed positive
correlations between cumulative exposure and nasal
symptoms, including epistaxis.
The following determinants of exposure were found to'decrease' dust concentration: manual assembling/packing;sanding with adequate exhaust ventilation; adequate
exhaust ventilation; vacuum cleaning of machines andspecial cleaning staff.
References:
American Thoracic, 1987, Standardization of spirometry:
1987 update, Am. Rev. Respir. Dis., 136:1285-98
Bolt HM, Huici-Montagud A, 2008, Strategy of the scientificcommittee on occupational exposure limits (SCOEL) in thederivation of occupational exposure limits for carcinogens
and mutagens, Arch Toxicol.82, 61-64
Enarson DA, ChanYeung M, Characterization of healtheffects of wood dust exposures, Am J Industr Med, 1990; 17 :
33-38
IARC,1995, Wood dust.IARC Monographs on the evaluationof carcinogenic risk of chemicals to humans, vol 62. Lyon ,France: International Agency for Research on Cancer.
350215 pp.

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200923

Kauppinen T, Vincent R, Liukkonen L, Grzebyk M, Kauppinen
A, Welling I, Arezes P, Black N, Bochmann F, Campelo F,
Elsigan H, Goerens R, Kikemenis A, Kromhout C, Miguel S,
Mirabelli D, Mceneany C, Pesch B, Plato N, Schlunsse V,
Schulze H, Sonntag R, Verougstraete V, Vicente MA, Wolf J,
Zimmermann M, Huurslainen-Purslainen K, Savolainen S,
2006, Occupational Exposure to Inhalable Wood Dust in theMember States of the European Union, Annals of
Occupational Hygiene 2006 50(6):549-561; doi:10.1093/
annhyg/mel013
Malo JL, Cartier A, Desjardins A, Weyer RV, Vandenplas O,
1995; Occupational asthm caused by oak wood, Chest, 108,856-858

Mayan O, Gonçalves I, Trigo L, Neves P, Gonçalves C,
Guimarães F, Rodrigues S, Martins M, Condições de trabalho
na indústria de mobiliário de madeira, ACT; Segurança,
Higiene e Saúde no Trabalho – Estudos, in press
NTP. 2000. Report on Carcinogens Background Document
for Wood Dust. National Toxicological Program. http://ntpserver.niehs.nih.gov/newhomeroc/roc10/WD.pdf
RTECS. 2003. Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical
Substances. Wood Dust. National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health

SWEDENThe Importance of Exposure Assessment in Occupational and Public Health
Sent by: Linnéa Lillienberg E-mail: linnea.lillienberg@amm.gu.se
This International Workshop was held in Gothenburg,
Sweden, on 24 September 2009, as a gift to Linnéa
Lillienberg before her retirement.
Professor Alex Burdorf, Department of
Public Health, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam,
and Professor Robert Herrick, Harvard
University School of Public Health, Boston,
USA, were invited speakers from outside
Sweden.
Alex Burdorf talked about “Determinants of exposure in
epidemiological studies; exposure variability andexposure models”. He illustrated the rapid progress in
exposure assessment modeling in the past few years.
Robert Herrick presented a study on “The course of heart
rate variability decline following particulate matter
exposure in an occupational cohort”.
Invited speakers from Sweden were Ingrid
Liljelind, Dept of Public Health and Clinical
Medicine, Umeå, who talked about “Selfassessment of exposure; reliability andfeasibility in epidemiologic research, including
workers’ interpretation of self assessment“and Pernilla Gustafson, Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, Gothenburg, who presented a study on“Indoor levels of PAHs in homes with or without woodburning for heating”.
Linnéa Lillienberg presented how these models can beused in her lecture on “Exposure to metalworking fluids;
determinants of exposure and respiratory symptoms inmachine operators”. She also gave an informal talk about
influential events, colleagues of significant importanceand other experiences in her work as an active
occupational hygienist. Linnéa mentioned that her
involvement in the IOHA Board, from 1988 to1996, andbeing IOHA President during 1995 were important
highlights of her career.
The workshop ended with a round table discussion on“Future of Occupational Hygiene in a Global
Perspective”. Alex Burdorf, who was in the panel, madethree statements, as follows:
1) occupational hygienists in the Nordic countries should
be braver and push forward exposure assessment
strategies as a core issue in the design of epidemiologicalstudies;2) there should be more awareness on the reasons why
workers behave as they do and more efforts towards
changing their behaviour, in order to decrease exposure
to harmful agents and factors, and,3) we should look at other measures of risk due tohazardous exposure e.g. reduction in life span of working
life due to occupational exposure.
Another important issue discussed by the panel and theaudience was education of occupational hygienists.
Robert Herrick stated that education on exposure andhealth is a key issue in the Public Health programmes,
hence, we should not only focus on exposure and lose
the perspective of safeguarding worker’s health and eventhe health of the community. The hygienists should learn
to answer “the questions never asked”.
Swedish participants in the panel stressed the need for
occupational hygienists to be represented in all type oforganizations to have more control and influence on the

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200924

development of occupational and environmental
hygiene. Another issue was the need of high quality dataand sustainable health policy programmes. This could be
implemented if occupational hygienists started moremonitoring programmes together with the industry.
REACH requires improved exposure models that can beused in exposure scenarios. One tool that was mentioned
was the Stoffenmanager, which is a sort of risk banding

scheme. More exposure data could also be achieved byinvolving the workers to do self assessment of exposure
in well organized campaigns. In Norway it is now in thelaw that all Occupational Health Services should employ
occupational hygienists. It was concluded thatoccupational hygienists in Sweden should be more heard
in media and in the public debate to get more influenceon the development of Public Health.

USA
Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) of 2008 of the USA: Implications for Occupational Hygiene
Sent by Ilise L Feitshans, ILO
E-mail: feitshans@ilo.org or ilise@prodigy.net
This summary does not represent official views of theUN, ILO or SAFEWORK. The full text may be obtained
from the author.
Passage of the federal Genetic Information NonDiscrimination Act of 2008, (GINA) by the US Congress of
the United States of America is one of several federal
laws that seek to protect the information arising from thestudy of the human genome. Key policy questions about
personal privacy and the protection against
discrimination based on genetic information have been at
the forefront of research issues since the inception of the
Human Genome Initiative (HGI), a multibillion dollar
project that successfully charted the sequencing of key
genes and biomarkers across a decade, ending in 2000.
In the USA, the federal government, in competition withmany other nations, spent over three billion US dollars on
the project, which has yielded amazing information andgene therapies for conditions considered untreatable in
the past.
GINA represents the first step towards codification in along standing public policy debate about the geneenvironment interaction and how we can adapt to theinformation genetic science is producing. The law itself
has several key interesting features. One of the biggest
problems facing individuals who have a genetic conditionis the reality that they share the illness with many people,
and unlike a cold or flu, its presence can be detected in
one person by studying the genetic composition of otherfamily members in some cases. Thus, genetic information
brings a new twist to issues of privacy: can theinformation about one person be legally or morally
gleaned from another, and if so is that for benefit, suchas research and identifying a population to target withtreatments, or for ill use, such as preventing employment
or refusing to insure them? And, whose information is it
anyway? The individual, the genetic family, or thegovernment who funded the research, or the society whoneeds to know about genetic conditions by storing
information for use by future generations?
The role of genotype, genetic propensitites, even the very
nature of the interaction between these genetic players

and the work environment ultimately plays a role, if notcontrols, our individual ability to perform work today andtomorrow. By creating GINA, the US Congress recognizedthat role of genetic testing, monitoring and research in
the workplace is inevitable, and equally inevitable is a
discourse fraught with painful social questions such as:
eugenics,
socialengineering,
stigma,genetic
discrimination, potential liability, assumption of the risk,
right to know and health care costs.
Genetics poses hard questions. Genetics is hard tounderstand but it is important. Perhaps the greatest
challenge will be defining not the genetic materials ofconcern to workers and their employers; and not thecriteria for the predictability and reliability of genetic
testing, screening and monitoring itself. Genetics is across cutting issue, but it has particular importance in
specific industries, in agriculture, in the global scientificcommunity, and for small business who will look perhaps
a tad more closely at health care and insurance costs
compared to larger scale employers. The greatest
challenge is in the area of definition of terms.
Very likely, the convergence of new genetic technologies
as applied through path breaking research may redefine
our collective understanding of “safety”, “health” or“disability” and may challenge both the fundamental
fairness and scientific underpinning of existing standards,
which presumes to protect all workers equally without
stratifying the requirements of standards to meet the
special needs of particular workplace settings, particular
genetic risks or specially vulnerable populations. In the20th century, OSHA in particular refused to allow suchstratification even in the case of reproductive healthhazards which impact female workers very differently
from male workers, regardless of issues during pregnancy
such as fetal protection. Genetic monitoring and related
research issues may signal a new era and thus the demiseof «one size fits all » regulatory standards. These
concerns must be addressed without bankrupting
employers, or saddling them with undue liability, but also
without creating an underclass of people who lose their

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200925

employability due to stigma, discrimination, potential
future injury based on genetic propensity, insurance costs
or potential liability involving genetic factors and harmful
workplace exposures that were previous unexplained or
misunderstood.

and every worker. To achieve these goals of protecting
people about information that technology did not grasp
in the previous century, the US Congress passed the"Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008".
Case Law Shaping the Legislative Mandate

The Policy Dilemma Approached by GINA
No one wants to make employers pay for problems thatare inherited. Existing social policies, such as the tradition
that state-based funds for workers’ compensation fill thevoid when the injury or occupational illness comes fromprevious employment is an example of the precedents forthis point. At the same time, society must reconcile thisfundamental notion of preventing the unfairness to pay
or serve as a repository for liability that the employer did
not create from a third party past with three (3)important realities:
1.

2.

3.

Employers remain responsible for providing
employment and places of employment that are
free from recognized hazards under Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of1970 (OSH Act). This is without regard to the originof the effect of the hazard, so long as theemployer has control of the premises where therecognized hazard is involved. Certainly, genetic
technologies will reveal connections between
workplace exposures and genetic transformations
in workers. Once these connections have been
discovered within the scientific community, thiswill expand the scope and breadth of the term
« recognized hazards », a concept broached upon
but not fully examined in GINA.
ADA—The Americans With Disabilities Act—applies to genetic conditions, so knowledge in thescientific community that meets the employers
obligation to provide safe and healthful
employment and places of employment does notmean that an employer can simply fire the worker
at risk to prevent harms revealed through genetic
technologies. Employers cannot easily escape theco-equal obligation to provide reasonableaccommodations to people who can perform theessential functions of their work, despite concerns
about genetic factors in the workplace that were
heretofore unknown or misunderstood.
Lastly, employers cannot use genetic information
about a worker to exclude them or theirdependents from an employer based healthinsurance program. This is particularly vital in acountry that has no national health insurance andtens of millions of people are uninsured orunderinsured.

4.
This task is of millennial importance to every workplace

Unraveling the sequence of the human genome andother advances in genetics has brought eagerly
anticipated knowledge about the genetic basis of illness.
Genetic testing can allow individuals to take steps toreduce the likelihood that they suffer the effects of aparticular disorder and may, with adequate funding,foster the development of better therapies that are more
effective against disease or have fewer side effects thancurrent treatments. Nonetheless, there remains potential
misuse of genetic information to discriminate in healthinsurance and employment. Congress was made aware ofgenetic discrimination in the workplace such as preemployment genetic screening at Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory, which was the subject of extensive litigationand finally a decision in favor of the employees in thatcase, Norman-Bloodsaw v. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory(1998). Congress stated that it has a clear compelling
public interest in relieving the fear of discrimination andin prohibiting its actual practice in employment andhealth insurance.
According to the US Congress in the “Findings” that form
the preamble for GINA, “Federal law addressing genetic
discrimination in health insurance and employment isincomplete in both the scope and depth of its
protections. Moreover, while many States have enacted
some type of genetic non-discrimination law, these laws
vary widely with respect to their approach, application,and level of protection. Congress has collected
substantial evidence that the American public and the
medical community find the existing patchwork of Stateand Federal laws to be confusing and inadequate toprotect them from discrimination. Therefore Federal
legislation establishing a national and uniform basic
standard is necessary to fully protect the public fromdiscrimination and allay their concerns about thepotential for discrimination, thereby allowing individuals
to take advantage of genetic testing, technologies,
research, and new therapies”.
Conclusion
In particular, occupational hygienists and all healthprofessionals responsible for safety and health in theworkplace should be careful that they are not caught inthe chain of a greater policy inadvertently creating
genetic discrimination, when exercising their duty torecommend in house procedures for safe and healthfulworking conditions.

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200926

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Health Authority Abu Dhabi - Safety in Heat Programme
Sent by: Darren Joubert E-mail: djoubert@haad.ae
The Health Authority Abu Dhabi Public Health andResearch Department, Occupational and Environmental
Health Section recently launched and implemented a
successful comprehensive Safety in Heat programme for
employers, occupational health and safety personnel andworkers in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Resources
Posters
Roll up banners
Workers Leaflets Illustrated
Supervisors leaflets textual

The programme was launched in May 2009 and ran overthe intense summer months where outdoor workers are
exposed to extreme heat stress conditions and ambient
dry bulb air temperatures can reach over 500C/1220F withhumidity levels of 90%. The problem of heat illness andheat stroke sometimes leading to fatalities is a large
problem in the gulf region and the programme wasintended to raise awareness amongst exposed workers of
the basic preventative measures to be taken, as well as
make business owners and employers aware of what
their role is and for companies who have safety
personnel to make training and other technical resources
available to them for improving the monitoring ofenvironmental conditions and educate them about
precautionary measures to protect their workforce.
A new heat stress index based upon one used inAustralian mining, the Thermal Work Index (TWL), (Bates
and Miller 2002; Brake and Bates 2002; Miller and Bates
2007) was validated by researchers from an Australian
University for use in the Gulf environment as it has beenfound that other commonly heat stress indices such as
WBGT could not be used for the harsh conditions
experienced in summer in the Gulf. An online calculator
and other technical resources are available on thewebsite for further information.
Materials and resources developed
The wide range of materials and resources developed
varied from technical training manuals and the TWL heatstress index for HSE personnel to simple illustrated
leaflets and posters for workers in addition to awarenessvideos in different languages. All materials are available
in softcopy for free download upon registration at the
programme websites at www.haad-safe.ae (English) or
www.ar.haad-safe.ae (Arabic) and can be freely used anddisseminated with acknowledgement to the Health
Authority Abu Dhabi.
Some of the various resources developed and theavailable languages are listed in the next column
Various other technical resources and research reports
and related publications from the studies conducted by

HSE Technical information
pack (Procedures andtraining manual, technicalinformation sheets, DVDtraining video x 1)
Worker DVD awarenessvideos (to be addressed in
the future)

Languages
English, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu,
MalayalamEnglish, Arabic
English, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu,
MalayalamEnglish, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu,
MalayalamEnglish, Arabic

English, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu,
Malayalam

the Australian researchers on the TWL heat stress index
as well as the results of physiological assessment ofworkers e.g.: heart rates and hydration status etc (during
summer and winter conditions) can be downloaded fromthe downloads page upon registration.
Company participation
The summer 2009 programme reached nearly 500 mainly
large companies who self registering into theprogramme, employing over 800,000 workers exposed toheat stress across 4,500 worksites and 1,800 labour
residence sites. Feedback from HSE personnel indicatinga high satisfaction level with the programme with 79.6%
rated the programme and resources in the very good or
excellent categories. The top 3 helpful or very helpful
materials provided were posters (97.4%), illustrated
workers pamphlet (89.5%) and urine posters (87.7%)
which indicated a simple way to monitor personal
hydration status using the colour of urine.
Results
Unfortunately statistics are not routinely kept on heat
related illness treated at emergency departments in Abu
Dhabi so specific data was not available to record theeffectiveness of the programme on an Emirate widebasis1. Statistics that were provided by two large
companies in Abu Dhabi who implemented theprogramme and utilized the educational and awarenessresources indicated a significant decrease in heat relatedcases from the summers of 2008-2009. One company had
a 39.7% decrease in heat related first aid cases and a 14%
decrease in heat related treatment and emergency cases
compared to summer 2008 and the other company had areduction from 24 emergency cases/20.5 million man

IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200927

hours in summer 2008 to 6 cases/25.5 million man hours
in summer 2009.
Future initiatives
Further goals for summer 2010 will include: Increasingawareness of the Thermal Work Index and environmental
monitoring techniques through the provision of training
course for HSE personnel and promotion of the online
TWL calculator. The Health Authority Abu Dhabi will also
be working with equipment manufacturers to develop an
economical heat stress meter based upon the TWL
algorithm to promote the monitoring of environmental
conditions amongst companies in Abu Dhabi and the UAE
and Gulf region which will include parameters such as
Wet Bulb, Dry Bulb, Globe Temperature and air velocity
which are the four parameters required by the TWL
index. This will facilitate the technical assessment of theenvironment by companies to implement applicable
control measures linked to TWL indices. Further healthpromotion materials with appeal to other sectors outsideof construction and in other languages such as Bengali
will also be developed. The monitoring of theeffectiveness of the programme with reduction in heat
illness cases over the summer months through use of a
hospital based injury surveillance system in 2010 will be
carried out.

References
Bates, G. and V. Miller (2002). "Empirical validation of a
new heat stress index." The Journal of Occupational
Health and Safety -Australia and New Zealand 18(2): 145153.
Brake, D. J. and G. P. Bates (2002). "Limiting metabolic
rate (thermal work limit) as an index of thermal stress."
Appl Occup Environ Hyg 17(3): 176-86.
Miller, V. and G. Bates (2007). "The Thermal Work Limit isa Simple Reliable Heat Index for the Protection ofWorkers in Thermally Stressful Environments." Ann
Occup Hyg 51: 553-561.

Disclaimer:

While great care is taken with the compilation of this Newsletter, IOHA, its Directors, the Editor
and the authors of articles accept no responsibility for opinions, errors and omissions that may bemade in this Newsletter. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely
with their authors and does not constitute an endorsement by the IOHA.

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IOHA Newsletter, Vol 17, No. 3, December 200928