A One-Month Monitoring of Exposure to Solar UV Radiation of a Group of Construction Workers in Tuscany

Alberto Modenese,Swen Malte John,Fabriziomaria Gobba,Pietro Sartorelli,Marc Wittlich,Valentina Paolucci

doi:10.3390/en13226035

Abstract

Solar radiation exposure at work is a relevant heath risk in the construction sector. Our objective was to monitor for a full month the individual solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure of a group of three construction workers active in Siena (latitude = 43°19′ N), a town in Tuscany (Italy). We used personal electronic dosimeters “X-2012-10” (Gigahertz, Turkenfeld, Germany) to register the UV irradiance in the UVA and UVB/C regions separately and we consulted a specific database to retrieve the corresponding ambient erythemal UVR dose (cloud-free conditions). In spring, construction workers from central Italy received a quite variable UVR dose, between 0.9 standard erythemal doses (SED) and 15.6 SED/day, 5.7 on average. Considering the proportion with respect to the potential environmental exposure, personal exposure resulted between 2.7% and 31.2% of the ambient erythemal dose, with a mean value of 12.5%. Cumulatively, the three construction workers received in one working month a UVR dose of more than 120 SED. In a year, we estimated that a construction worker from Tuscany region is exposed to about 750 SED. This data demonstrates that construction workers in Italy are exposed to extremely high levels of solar UVR, with a relevant risk of developing adverse health effects related to the potential accumulation of UVR-induced damage in susceptible biological tissues, such as the skin and the eyes.

Highlights

Solar radiation (SR) exposure represents an important, even if sometimes neglected, occupational risk, with a high potential for inducing adverse health effects in exposed workers, if no adequate prevention is emplaced [1]
We had to exclude the few results related to this fourth subject, and we present here the personal solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure data at the work of three male construction workers
Our results show that the highest levels of individual solar UVR exposure were registered at the end of May, when the ambient UVR exposure was lower compared to late June

Summary

Introduction

Solar radiation (SR) exposure represents an important, even if sometimes neglected, occupational risk, with a high potential for inducing adverse health effects in exposed workers, if no adequate prevention is emplaced [1]. The most hazardous component of the optical spectrum of SR is ultraviolet radiation (UVR), which can induce by photochemical mechanisms various acute and long-term adverse effects, mainly in the skin and the eyes of exposed subjects [2]. SR represents the most important cause of skin tumors, and excessive UVR exposure is associated to the development of the main types of skin cancers, including malignant melanoma (considered to be mainly associated to repeated sunburns and intense intermittent exposure, especially at a young age) [4] and non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC—including basal and squamous cell carcinomas, usually associated to long-term solar UV exposures, e.g., the exposure patterns typical of outdoor work activities) [5]. UVR-induced long-term eye effects are mainly pterygium [6,7,8] and cataract [6,7,9]

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