Occupational exposure to solar UV radiation in a group of dock-workers in North-East Italy

Occupational solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure is a relevant heath risk in dock workers, potentially exposed to both direct and reflected radiation, but apparently was scantly studied up now and few studies on measurements of solar UVR levels are currently available for these workers. Our aim was to provide an evaluation of UVR exposure in 10 longshoremen and 4 port traffic coordinators/goods acceptors of a dock in North-East Italy. During a Summer day, workers' exposure was measured with personal UV dosimeters, and the environmental UV effective radiant exposure with a spectroradiometer. Personal solar UV dose ranged between 257-1975 J/m2 in longshoremen, and between 44-139 J/m2 for port traffic coordinators/goods acceptors. The percentage of personal compared to ambient exposure resulted between 16 and 59% for longshoremen, while were much lower, between 2 and 7%, in port traffic coordinators/goods acceptors. Eye exposure was also estimated using an ocular UV dosimeter placed on a stem of the sunglasses in a subject spending the day close to the longshoremen, resulting in a non-weighted solar UV-A ocular dose between 133.9 and 401.8 J/m2. Our results show an occupational solar UVR exposure of uncovered skin exceeding the suggested occupational limit of 1 - 1.3 standard erythemal dose per day, in all longshoremen. In one case this value was exceeded also in one of the port traffic coordinators /good acceptors, despite the overall lower UVR doses received. In conclusion, our UV measurement campaign in a group of Italian dock-workers support the existence of a significantly high occupational UVR risk at least for longshoremen, possibly inducing long-term UV-related adverse skin effects. Accordingly, an effort for the development of adequate interventions to protect these workers from solar UV risk is highly recommended in Italy.