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JournalISSN: 0025-7818

Medicina Del Lavoro 

Italian Society of Occupational Medicine
About: Medicina Del Lavoro is an academic journal published by Italian Society of Occupational Medicine. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Occupational safety and health. It has an ISSN identifier of 0025-7818. Over the lifetime, 2467 publications have been published receiving 17813 citations. The journal is also known as: Medicine, Health and Working Life.


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4,638 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: The evaluation of a worker's fitness for shift and night work should be strictly connected with a careful job analysis, as the primary requisite is to arrange shift schedules according to ergonomic principles and to assure suitable compensative measures.
Abstract: Shiftwork, in particular night work, causes disruption of biological rhythms, perturbation of social and family life, with a negative influence on performance efficiency, health and social well-being. Deterioration of health can manifest in the short-term as sleep disorders, jet-lag syndrome and accidents; in the long term there is an increased risk of gastrointestinal, psychoneurotic and cardiovascular diseases, and impairment of the female reproductive function. The evaluation of a worker's fitness for shift and night work should be strictly connected with a careful job analysis, as the primary requisite is to arrange shift schedules according to ergonomic principles and to assure suitable compensative measures. Occupational health physicians should advise shiftworkers about proper coping strategies and carefully evaluate health disorders with absolute or relative contraindications. Health checks should be aimed at detecting early signs of intolerance and their frequency should be set in relation to specific working conditions, individual characteristics, and social factors known to influence tolerance to shift work. Language: it

142 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: Assessing and managing the occupational health risks posed by the use of pesticides in agriculture is a complex but essential task for occupational health specialists and toxicologists.
Abstract: Nearly 50% of the world labour force is employed in agriculture. Over the last 50 years, agriculture has deeply changed with a massive utilisation of pesticides and fertilisers to enhance crop protection and production, food quality and food preservation. Pesticides are also increasingly employed for public health purposes and for domestic use. Pesticide are unique chemicals as they are intrinsically toxic for several biological targets, are deliberately spread into the environment, and their toxicity has a limited species selectivity. Pesticide toxicity depends on the compound family and is generally greater for the older compounds; in humans, they are responsible for acute poisonings as well as for long term health effects, including cancer and adverse effects on reproduction. Due to their intrinsic toxicity, in most countries a specific and complex legislation prescribes a thorough risk assessment process for pesticides prior to their entrance to the market (pre-marketing risk assessment). The post-marketing risk assessment takes place during the use of pesticides and aims at assessing the risk for exposed operators. The results of the risk assessment are the base for the health surveillance of exposed workers. Occupational exposure to pesticides in agriculture concerns product distributors, mixers and loaders, applicators, bystanders, and rural workers re-entering the fields shortly after treatment. Assessing and managing the occupational health risks posed by the use of pesticides in agriculture is a complex but essential task for occupational health specialists and toxicologists. In spite of the economic and social importance of agriculture, the health protection of agricultural workforce has been overlooked for too many years, causing an heavy tribute paid in terms of avoidable diseases, human sufferance, and economic losses. Particularly in the developing countries, where agricultural work is one of the predominant job, a sustainable model of development calls for more attention to occupational risks in agriculture. The experience of many countries has shown that prevention of health risk caused by pesticides is technically feasible and economically rewarding for the individuals and the whole community. A proper risk assessment and management of pesticide use is an essential component of this preventative

104 citations

Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Journal in previous years
YearPapers
202327
202249
202121
202040
201943
201841