Health surveillance according to the new EU Directive 2013/35/EU: possible criteria

In a discussion on possible criteria for health surveillance (HS) of workers exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMF) it should be stated beforehand that the new EMF Directive 2013/35/EU specifically refers to the protection from the risks associated with known direct biophysical and indirect effects caused by EMF (0-300 GHz), while does not address to suggested long-term effects. HS of EMF exposed workers should be performed based on the results of the risk assessment, but until now no international guidelines or authoritative documents on criteria to be applied are available. A further specific problem is HS of workers "at particular risk", as: (a) no shared comprehensive definition of these workers is currently available, and (b) an adherence to the ELVs of the Directive 2013/35/UE do not necessarily provide an adequate protection workers at particular risk and e.g. interference problems, especially with pacemakers, may occur at lower levels. As a conclusion, at present the problem concerning the HS of workers exposed to EMF is that sound scientific data, especially on groups at higher risk, are largely insufficient, and do not give an adequate support to the occupational physician to face the problem; accordingly, no consensus exists regarding adequate procedures to be applied