U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

Exposure to Solar and Artificial Ultraviolet Radiation

Supporting Files
File Language:
English


Details

  • Alternative Title:
    Ann Work Expo Health
  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Introduction

    Job exposure matrices (JEMs) are important tools for estimating occupational exposures in study populations where only information on industry and occupation (I&O) are available. JEMs were developed for solar and artificial ultraviolet radiation (UVR) using a U.S standardized coding scheme.

    Methods

    Using U.S. Census Bureau industry and occupation codes, separate lists of I&O pairs were developed for solar and artificial UVR by a panel of Certified Industrial Hygienists who assigned exposure ratings to I&O pairs with potential exposure. Parameters for exposure included prevalence (P) and frequency (F) for solar UVR and P, F and intensity (I) for artificial UVR. Prevalence, or percent of all workers employed in an I&O pair who were exposed, was categorically rated: 0-<1, 1-<20; 20-<80 and ≥80. Frequency of exposure, defined by the number of hours per week workers were exposed, was categorically rated: 0-<5, 5-<20, 20-<35 and ≥35 hours per week. For artificial UVR only, intensity of exposure was assigned three ratings: low, low with rare excursions, and >low under normal conditions. Discrepant ratings were resolved via consensus.

    Results

    After excluding I&O pairs assigned P and F ratings of 0 (solar UVR) and P, F and I ratings of 0 (artificial UVR) from the JEM, 9,206 I&O pairs were rated for solar UVR and 2,010 I&O pairs for artificial UVR. For solar UVR, 723 (7.9% of all rated pairs) had ratings in the highest category for P and F; this group included 45 occupations in varied industries. Construction and extraction occupations represented most of the occupations (n=20; 44%), followed by farming, fishing and forestry occupations (n=6; 13%). For artificial UVR, 87 I&O pairs (4.3% of all rated pairs) had maximum ratings for P, F, and I; these comprised a single occupation (welding, soldering and brazing workers) in diverse industries.

    Conclusion

    JEMs for solar and artificial UVR were developed for a broad range of I&O pairs in the U.S. population and are available for use by researchers conducting occupational epidemiological studies.

  • Subjects:
  • Source:
    Ann Work Expo Health. 64(9):936-943
  • Pubmed ID:
    33009798
  • Pubmed Central ID:
    PMC8802569
  • Document Type:
  • Funding:
  • Volume:
    64
  • Issue:
    9
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha256:0457c1d3defc7d779c77156589d8b3a802bd7ff92fd04ff9a040bf82a864ab85
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 82.03 KB ]
File Language:
English
ON THIS PAGE

CDC STACKS serves as an archival repository of CDC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other public health information authored or co-authored by CDC or funded partners.

As a repository, CDC STACKS retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.