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Biological agents and prevention of work-related diseases
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Biological agents and prevention of work-related diseases

A review

Metapodatki publikacije

A subset of all microorganisms cause disease(s) in humans (pathogens), and the health effects caused by biological agents have a major impact on public health. Worldwide, an estimated 320,000 workers die annually from work-related infectious diseases, 5,000 of whom in the EU. More insight into and awareness of biological risks is therefore vital for a detailed evaluation of these health effects, including those of combined exposures. This ‘review on work-related diseases due to biological agents’ project, commissioned by EU-OSHA, intends to provide insight into the problems and to provide information about health effects related to biological agents for policymakers, actors in occupational disease monitoring and recognition, actors at the enterprise level and those in sectoral organisations. The report presents the results of the review, including information on emerging risks, monitoring systems and examples of prevention measures. The views of different parties, workplace practitioners and experts (based on interviews and focus groups), and their converging and diverging views, were included. As biological agents are widespread, several sectors were addressed more specifically: animal-related work, waste and wastewater treatment, healthcare, arable farming, and occupations that involve travelling or exposure to travellers. Recommendations at the European level from the project include harmonisation of monitoring systems with regard to collection of data, the need for better implementation of policy measures to increase their effectiveness, more knowledge exchange, developing reliable and standardised measurement methods for exposure to biological agents, and suggestions for changes in the EU Directive on biological agents. At the national level, the visibility and the approachability of experts should be improved, and the importance of dealing with the workplace risks from biological agents and awareness raising should be emphasised. At the sector and company level, wider approaches for sector-transcending risks and process approaches with a broader scope and higher level solutions should be implemented. An approach similar to a lifecycle approach in chemicals management could be adopted that includes all steps and tasks of a worker (locally), seeing all possible risks that the worker encounters. A combined risk approach (taking a broader scope and including more (diverse) risks (biological risks, physical risks, chemical risks, and/or risks from biological agents) would emphasise the importance of workplace risk assessment. More general, broader prevention policies and measures that also protect workers from exposure to biological agents should be implemented to tackle unintentional exposures.
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ISSN 1831-9343
ISBN 978-92-9479-361-4
DOI 10.2802/403960
Kataloška številka TE-RO-20-005-EN-N
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ISSN 1831-9343 ISBN 978-92-9479-361-4 DOI 10.2802/403960 Kataloška številka TE-RO-20-005-EN-N
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