Personal ultraviolet radiation dosimetry and its relationship with environmental data: A longitudinal pilot study in Croatian construction workers

Abstract

Objective: This pilot study aimed to estimate annual occupational ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposures based on 5 consecutive months of dosimetry measurements in Croatian construction workers and assess its relationship with the environmental data collected during the same period. Methods: Four male construction industry workers from the vicinity of Zagreb (lat. 45.8 degrees N, alt. 128 m) participated in the study. The study was a part of the GENESIS-UV project, attempting to collect long-term dosimetry data for outdoor occupations across Europe. Workers wore personal dosimeters (model X2012-10, Gigahertz, Tuerkenfeld, Germany) on the left upper arm during working hours in the period from June to October 2017. Median exposure assessment period was 57 working days. Results: Estimates of annual occupational UVR exposure ranged from 76 SED to 976 SED per worker, reflecting large differences in patterns of workers' exposure. Daily UVR doses received by the workers were comparable to the values of other studies at similar latitudes, reaching up to 12 SED in summer months. Measurements of workers with high exposure values (estimated > 600 SED/year) showed moderate to high associations with environmental UVR and insolation data (Spearman's correlation coefficient ranging from 0.57 to 0.73). Conclusions: The results confirmed high occupational exposure of tested Croatian construction workers to solar UVR. However, more data are needed to explain the between-worker variability and develop prediction models with respect to specific work tasks. The use of environmental UVR for predicting long-term exposure should be considered, especially for high exposure tasks.