ABSTRACT
This study presents and evaluates an expert group's assessment of exposure to carcinogens for defined job categories in Norway's offshore petroleum industry, 1970-2005, to provide exposure information for a planned cohort study on cancer. Three university and five industry experts in occupational hygiene individually assessed the likelihood of exposure to 1836 combinations of carcinogens (n=17), job categories (n=27) and time periods (n=4). In subsequent plenary discussions, the experts agreed on exposed combinations. Agreement between the individual and the panel assessments was calculated by Cohen's kappa index. Using the panel assessment as reference, sensitivity and specificity were estimated. The eight experts assessed 63% of the 1836 combinations in plenary, resulting in 265 (14%) convened exposed combinations. Chlorinated hydrocarbons, benzene and inhalation of mineral oils had the highest number of exposed job categories (n=14, 9 and 10, respectively). The job categories classified as exposed to the highest numbers of carcinogens were the mechanics (n=10), derrick workers (n=6) and process technicians (n=5). The agreement between the experts' individual assessments and the panel assessment was kappa=0.53-0.74. The sensitivity was 0.55-0.86 and specificity 0.91-0.97. For these parameters, there were no apparent differences between the university experts and the industry experts. The resulting 265 of 1836 possible exposure combinations convened as "exposed" by expert assessment is presented in this study. The experts' individual ratings highly agreed with the succeeding panel assessment. Correlation was found between years of experience of the raters and agreement with the panel. The university experts and the industry experts' assessments had no apparent differences. Further validation of the exposure assessment is suggested, such as by new sampling data or observational studies.
Subject(s)
Carcinogens, Environmental/analysis , Occupational Exposure/analysis , Occupational Exposure/classification , Occupations/classification , Petroleum , Risk Assessment/methods , Carcinogens, Environmental/adverse effects , Consensus , Faculty , Humans , Industry , Norway , Occupational Exposure/adverse effects , Occupational Health , Petroleum/adverse effects , Risk Assessment/standards , Sensitivity and Specificity , Time Factors , UniversitiesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Latex allergy has become prevalent among health care workers. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of self-reported symptoms related to latex exposure among hospital personnel. METHODS: Questionnaires addressing symptoms and risk factors for latex allergy were distributed to all employees (n = 5,087) at Haukeland University Hospital. RESULTS: Symptoms associated with latex exposure were reported by 23.8% of the participants. Skin symptoms were most frequently reported - flushing/itching/hives: 21.0%, hand eczema: 11.8% - while systemic and respiratory symptoms were reported by 1.4 and 1.2%, respectively. Approximately twice as many women than men reported symptoms (odds ratio 2.55, confidence interval 2.04-3.18). Symptoms were reported by 33.7% of those with atopy and by 20.0% of those without. The occurrence of symptoms increased significantly with the frequency of use of latex gloves but was unrelated to age, years of exposure or number of surgical procedures. CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of self-reported symptoms was associated with the frequent use of latex gloves, atopy and female gender.
