Strategy to evaluate the impact of formaldehyde in anatomical pathology laboratory – part i

Abstract

Formaldehyde (FA) is a chemical compound commonly used in anatomical pathology laboratories as a tissue preservative, and it is common and epidemiologically related to cancer. Therefore, the personnel resident in the anatomical pathology laboratories is among the workers most exposed to FA and its related cancer and non-cancerogenic risk. Thus, risk assessment, cancerogenic and non-cancerogenic, and a careful occupational exposure assessment are recommended. In this study, FA was monitored in an Italian anatomical pathology laboratory to perform an occupational exposure assessment, according to the UNI EN 689:219, and to determine the Hazard Quotient (HQ) and the Lifetime Cancer Hazard Risk (LCHR) for carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk assessment, respectively. The exposure observed for pathologists and technicians is lower than the EU Occupational exposure limit mandatory (0.62 mg/m3), and both group of workers are in Compliance with it. Nevertheless, concerning the risk assessment, both the HQs and the LCHRs resulted in being higher (1.3 and 1.6 HQ and 3.2x10-5 and 3.9x10-5, for pathologists and technicians, respectively) than the ones observed in similar scenarios. This study shows how the exposure assessment to FA could face striving situations in terms of workers' health safeguard, due to the differences among occupational limits recommended and the high health risks, especially in the healthcare field.