Health Outcomes Related to Multiple Exposures in Occupational Settings: A Review

Individuals are constantly exposed to hazardous factors that can affect their health, the hazards encountered in the workplace can lead to the development of occupational diseases. Risk mitigation measures help to reduce the risks, but they are often designed without consideration of interactions be...

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Main Authors: Cassandra Barbey, Nathalie Bonvallot, Frédéric Clerc
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Safety and Health at Work
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2093791124000763
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author Cassandra Barbey
Nathalie Bonvallot
Frédéric Clerc
author_facet Cassandra Barbey
Nathalie Bonvallot
Frédéric Clerc
author_sort Cassandra Barbey
collection DOAJ
description Individuals are constantly exposed to hazardous factors that can affect their health, the hazards encountered in the workplace can lead to the development of occupational diseases. Risk mitigation measures help to reduce the risks, but they are often designed without consideration of interactions between occupational exposures. Therefore, there is a need for research and it resulted in international research plans and programmes. The aim of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the scientific results related to the link between multiple occupational exposures and human health outcomes. Sixty-three articles were reviewed. Research articles were included only if they mentioned: several combined exposures, the direct characterisation of each exposure, and exposure/health outcome associations. Seven activity sectors were identified: ‘extraction and energy production and distribution’, ‘health care’, ‘banks, public administration and defence’, ‘chemical production’, ‘manufacturing industry’, ‘agriculture and food industry’ and ‘transport and logistics’. Six multiple exposures scenarios were identified: chemical (n = 35), chemical/physical-biomechanical (n = 22), chemical/psychosocial-organisational (n = 6), physical-biomechanical (n = 9), physical-biomechanical/psychosocial-organisational (n = 13), and psychosocial-organisational (n = 12). The health problems identified concern nervous, mental, respiratory, musculoskeletal, auditory and other systems. Eighty-eight of 97 (91%) multiple exposure/health problem associations were reported to be statistically significant. Twenty studies (32%) provided specific risk prevention advice for multiple exposures. Prevention aimed at reducing risks to workers' health is still underdeveloped, further research is needed to improve prevention methods. No study was related to biological risk, and some other multiple exposures known to have health effects were not identified as well. This highlights the need for more multiple exposures research.
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spelling doaj-art-44e9c9b12bb54a7fa4e9f4aa38df3f382024-11-30T07:10:02ZengElsevierSafety and Health at Work2093-79112024-12-01154382395Health Outcomes Related to Multiple Exposures in Occupational Settings: A ReviewCassandra Barbey0Nathalie Bonvallot1Frédéric Clerc2Department of Pollutant Metrology, French Research and Safety Institute for the Prevention of Occupational Accidents and Diseases (INRS), 54547 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France; Univ Rennes, Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail) - UMR_S 1085, F-35000 Rennes, FranceUniv Rennes, Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail) - UMR_S 1085, F-35000 Rennes, FranceDepartment of Pollutant Metrology, French Research and Safety Institute for the Prevention of Occupational Accidents and Diseases (INRS), 54547 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France; Corresponding author. Department of Pollutant Metrology, French Research and Safety Institute for the Prevention of Occupational Accidents and Diseases (INRS), 54547 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France.Individuals are constantly exposed to hazardous factors that can affect their health, the hazards encountered in the workplace can lead to the development of occupational diseases. Risk mitigation measures help to reduce the risks, but they are often designed without consideration of interactions between occupational exposures. Therefore, there is a need for research and it resulted in international research plans and programmes. The aim of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the scientific results related to the link between multiple occupational exposures and human health outcomes. Sixty-three articles were reviewed. Research articles were included only if they mentioned: several combined exposures, the direct characterisation of each exposure, and exposure/health outcome associations. Seven activity sectors were identified: ‘extraction and energy production and distribution’, ‘health care’, ‘banks, public administration and defence’, ‘chemical production’, ‘manufacturing industry’, ‘agriculture and food industry’ and ‘transport and logistics’. Six multiple exposures scenarios were identified: chemical (n = 35), chemical/physical-biomechanical (n = 22), chemical/psychosocial-organisational (n = 6), physical-biomechanical (n = 9), physical-biomechanical/psychosocial-organisational (n = 13), and psychosocial-organisational (n = 12). The health problems identified concern nervous, mental, respiratory, musculoskeletal, auditory and other systems. Eighty-eight of 97 (91%) multiple exposure/health problem associations were reported to be statistically significant. Twenty studies (32%) provided specific risk prevention advice for multiple exposures. Prevention aimed at reducing risks to workers' health is still underdeveloped, further research is needed to improve prevention methods. No study was related to biological risk, and some other multiple exposures known to have health effects were not identified as well. This highlights the need for more multiple exposures research.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2093791124000763Health effectsMultiple exposuresOccupational exposuresOccupational healthOccupational risk
spellingShingle Cassandra Barbey
Nathalie Bonvallot
Frédéric Clerc
Health Outcomes Related to Multiple Exposures in Occupational Settings: A Review
Safety and Health at Work
Health effects
Multiple exposures
Occupational exposures
Occupational health
Occupational risk
title Health Outcomes Related to Multiple Exposures in Occupational Settings: A Review
title_full Health Outcomes Related to Multiple Exposures in Occupational Settings: A Review
title_fullStr Health Outcomes Related to Multiple Exposures in Occupational Settings: A Review
title_full_unstemmed Health Outcomes Related to Multiple Exposures in Occupational Settings: A Review
title_short Health Outcomes Related to Multiple Exposures in Occupational Settings: A Review
title_sort health outcomes related to multiple exposures in occupational settings a review
topic Health effects
Multiple exposures
Occupational exposures
Occupational health
Occupational risk
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2093791124000763
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