Abstract
Workers with cardiac active implantable medical devices (AIMD), such as a pacemaker (PM) or an implantable defibrillator (ICD), are considered by the occupational health and safety regulation framework as a particularly sensitive risk group that must be protected against the dangers caused by the interference of electromagnetic field (EMF). In this paper, we first describe the general methodology that shall be followed for the risk assessment of employees with a cardiac AIMD exposed to EMF, according to the EU regulation, and in particular to the EN 50527-2-1:2016 and 50527-2-2:2018 standards. Then, three case studies related to specific EMF sources are presented, to better describe how the initial analysis of the risk assessment can be performed in practice, and to understand if a further specific risk assessment analysis is required or not.
Highlights
Employers have duties under health and safety laws to assess risks in the workplace.Risk assessment should identify all risks that might cause harm in the workplace and should put in place protective or preventive measures to reduce the risks identified
The RFID readers can be divided into two main categories: (i) readers installed inside gates and (ii) manual hand-held readers
For the three Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) sources taken as examples (RFID readers, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transmitters, UMTS and LTE phones) a common approach has been identified and is proposed as a possible common approach to be adopted as a general guideline for the risk assessment
Summary
Employers have duties under health and safety laws to assess risks in the workplace.Risk assessment should identify all risks that might cause harm in the workplace and should put in place protective or preventive measures to reduce the risks identified. Employers have duties under health and safety laws to assess risks in the workplace. The indirect effects include the interference with active implanted medical devices, such as cardiac pacemakers (PM) or implantable defibrillators (ICD). This is why workers bearing these types of devices are a group considered to be at particular risk from EMF. These workers may not be adequately protected by the action levels specified in the EMF Directive and so it is necessary for employers to consider their exposure separately to that of other workers. PM, ICD and, more in general, active implantable medical devices (AIMD), are known to be susceptible to strong EMF
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