Occupational exposure to solar UV radiation: methods and first results of a multi-disciplinary expert assessment within the EPHOR project

Introduction: Solar radiation exposure is a relevant risk factor in many occupational activities and a widespread occupational carcinogen. A proper quantitative assessment of ultra violet (UV) exposure levels in different occupations is among the main issues for an adequate risk evaluation and prevention. Material and Methods: Within the “Exposome Project for Health and Occupational Research” (EPHOR), three expert groups, i.e. for Northern, Central and Southern Europe, including 10 individual assessors, independently evaluated the probability and duration of daytime outdoor work between April and September for all occupations of the International Standard Classification of Occupations 88 (ISCO-88). The assessment is a multi-step process, in order to reach final European expert scores for the three regions. All 390 ISCO-88 occupations have been rated by the assessors, within four categories of a) 0 ; >0 to 0 to 2 ; >2 to 4 ; >4 hours respectively for probability and duration of current outdoor work. Results: The results of the first round of assessment of the three groups have shown good agreement between assessors for the low and high categories and ranged between 0.48 and 0.64 both with respect to probability and duration. The overall interrater agreements ranged between 0.43 and 0.48 across the three European regions. Conclusion: This effort will finally aim at building a quantitative job exposure matrix (JEM) for a detailed evaluation of occupational solar UV radiation exposure in different occupations, that will also include personal UV measurements.