The Occupational Health Surveillance of Workers Exposed to Electromagnetic Fields and the Problem of ‘Workers at Particular Risk’

Electromagnetic fields (EMF) represent a recognised occupational risk factor, and the number of potentially exposed workers is huge; but, to date, the problem of an adequate occupational health surveillance (OHS) programme for the protection of EMF-exposed workers is still open. So far, scant agreement is available, especially on the OHS-specific contents to adequately ensure an effective prevention and early detection of adverse effects such as the stimulation of muscles, nerves or sensory organs, and limb currents or thermal effects, generally not expected in the usual working situations, commonly not exceeding exposure limits; but that can appear especially in the case of overexposures. A further problematic aspect of OHS programme is the protection of workers with conditions inducing their higher susceptibility (‘workers at particular risk’) as are, in the case of EMF exposure, for example, subjects with implanted medical devices and pregnant workers. It should be considered that the adverse effects are usually prevented in the case of strict compliance with occupational exposure limit values, but an exceeding of the limits is possible, at least during certain working activities. Furthermore, the current occupational limits may not provide an adequate protection for workers at particular risk. For this reason, an adequate information of the workers on the risk, on exposure levels and on conditions possibly inducing a particular susceptibility to EMF, as well as an early identification and a medical periodical examination of these workers, should be an essential component of any appropriate OHS programme. A last point to be raised here is the fact that the overall results of the OHS should be adequately collected and preserved in a suitable form in order to be consulted at a later date, as required by the European legislation, offering a potential important source of evidence on the possible EMF-related effects; but the unavailability of shared OHS programmes makes it almost impossible. Unfortunately, at our knowledge to date no international effort is ongoing, and apparently none is planned to overcome these challenges.