Workplace noise exposure and audiometric thresholds in dental technicians.

Noise is a well-known risk factor in occupational medicine. Several studies have been performed in workplaces with noise sources, especially in the industrial field; on the contrary, only a few studies have been carried to evaluate the noise exposure effects in non-industrial workplaces such as small factories, handicraft laboratories, and dental laboratories. The aims of this study were to evaluate workplace noise exposure and hearing thresholds in dental technicians. Four laboratories and 51 dental technicians were included in the study. Noise exposure levels during a nominal eight-hour working day (LEX, 8 h) were assessed in the included laboratories. Audiometric thresholds with pure tone audiometry were performed in 51 dental technicians, and results were compared with those expected in subjects not exposed to noise. The environmental noise measures showed moderate differences of the LEX, 8 h among the four laboratories (range 71.4 to 76.2); average LEX, 8 h was 73.9 ± 2.2 dB(A). The audiometric results showed a progressive increase of hearing threshold values at the frequencies mostly involved in noise-induced hearing loss (3, 4 and 6 kHz) and a correlation with age and working seniority especially in males (p<0.005). Nevertheless, in the 92.1% of subjects the threshold increases were in line with those expected in subjects of the same age and sex not exposed to noise and in the remaining 7.8% were not statistically significant (p>0.05). In 3.9% of the cases the increases were bilateral, typical of noise-induced hearing loss, and only 1.9% showed involvement of several frequencies with worsening of expected thresholds >25 dB. In conclusion, our study showed that exposure to noise in dental laboratories was not sufficient to represent a hazard to hearing, as demonstrated by the LEX, 8 h, which were below 80 dB(A) and therefore below the European exposure limit values and exposure action values for workers.

Association between waste management and HBV among solid municipal waste workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.

AIM: To conduct a systematic review of this relationship using available published observational studies in the field of solid municipal waste treatment. METHODS: The review of the scientific literature was based on Medline and Scopus databases up to December 2012, using the keywords HBV, waste, solid, treatment, workers, disposal, and refuse in different combinations. RESULTS: 160 studies were found and checked. Finally, 5 observational studies were considered suitable, all cross-sectional. The pooled proportion of HBs-Ag considering all the studies was 11% (95% CI: 5-21%), and considering the high quality studies only, this proportion was 14% (95% CI: 6-24%). The pooled proportion of HBs-Ab positivity among waste workers considering all the studies was 14.2% (95% CI: 1.4-37.2%), and considering the high quality studies only, this proportion was 24% (95% CI: 18-30%). The pooled proportion of HBc-Ab positivity among waste workers considering all the studies was 24% (95% CI: 6-49%). The pooled estimation of the risk of HBV positivity (HBsAg) among exposed was OR = 2.39 (95% CI: 0.88-6.52). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, waste workers need to be vaccinated against HBV infection since they are at risk of acquiring this infection through the exposure to potentially infected waste.

Biological risk and occupational health.

Many work activities include hazards to workers, and among these biological risk is particularly important, mostly because of different types of exposure, contact with highly dangerous agents, lack of limit values able to compare all exposures, presence of workers with defective immune systems and therefore more susceptible to the risk. Bioaerosols and dust are considered important vehicles of microganisms at workplaces and interaction with other occupational agents is assumed. Moreover, biological risk can be significant in countries with increasing economic development or particular habits and some biological agents are also classified as carcinogenic to human. Specific emerging biological risks have been recently pointed out by Risk Observatory of the European Agency for Safety and Health at work, and we must consider the worker's attitude and behaviour, influenced by his own perception of risk more than his real knowledge, that could over-underestimate the risk itself. Therefore, biological risk at work requires a complex approach in relation to risk assessment and risk management, made more difficult due to the wide variety of biological agents, working environments and working techniques that can determine the exposures.

[Management, quality of health and occupational safety and hospital organization: is integration possible?]. / Management e qualità della salute e della sicurezza sul lavoro e organizzazione ospedaliera: integrazione possibile?

The evolution of the national and European legislation has progressively transformed the working environments into organized environments. Specific models for its management are being proposed, which should be integrated into general management strategies. In the case of hospitals this integration should consider the peculiar organizational complexity, where the management of the occupational risk needs to be integrated with clinical risk management and economic risk management. Resources management should also consider that Occupational Medicine has not a direct monetary benefit for the organisation, but only indirect health consequences in terms of reduction of accidents and occupational diseases. The deep and simultaneous analysis of the current general management systems and the current management methods of occupational safety and health protection allows one to hyphotesise a possible integration between them. For both of them the Top Management is the main responsible of the quality management strategies and the use of specific documents in the managerial process, such as the document of risks evaluation in the occupational management and the quality manual in the general management, is of paramount importance. An integrated management has also the scope to pursue a particular kind of quality management, where ethics and job satisfaction are innovative, as established by recent European guidelines, management systems and national legislations.

[The history of radioactivity and its applications in hygiene and therapy]. / Storia della radioattività e delle sue applicazioni nell'igiene e nella cura.

Since Antiquity, the observation of matter and its composition has been fascinating for the human mind. It represented the core of philosophical studies since the atomistic theory by Leucippus and Democritus, as well as of the opposed theory of elements by Empedocles, Plato and Aristoteles. Research on the atom, on its spontaneous or artificial disgregation, on the practical application of radioactive substances has strongly influenced daily life and the development of knowledge. Products containing radioactive substances have been used, often without regulation or control, in many scientific fields, as well as in medicine and cosmetics.