Case Studies - Occupational & Environmental Health



Raising the profile of occupational health
Increasing awareness and knowledge of occupational health is an important activity underpinning HSE's strategic programmes.The Sheffield Occupational Health Development Group is a partnership between organisations which are committed to sharing good practice in occupational health.
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Occupational asthma - a national study of clinical practice and patients' perspective
HSL has undertaken a national study of the process involved in the diagnosis and management of occupational asthma.
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Arsenic species in urine
HSL has developed a new method of analysis for urinary arsenic. This method gives more information about the type of exposure to arsenic, and will help to improve risk assessments for arsenic in and out of the workplace.
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The risk of kidney damage in workers exposed to solvents
In a joint project with the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, HSL investigated the possibility of a link between exposure to volatile organic solvents and the risk of kidney damage.
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Uptake of chemical substances through the skin
Occupational exposure to airborne hazardous substances is usually discussed in terms of the risk of inhalation. However, absorption through the skin can be an important route of exposure, contributing to the body burden.
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Measurement of neural tissue in abbatoirs
Following concern that abattoir workers might be exposed to the BSE agent through inhalation or skin contact, HSL worked on a collaborative project to study the degree of contamination by neural tissue during carcass splitting in abattoirs.
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Health surveillance of vibration exposed workers
Vibration White Finger (VWF) is a prescribed disease under the Industrial Diseases Regulations (1985) and is caused by excessive exposure to vibration from hand-held vibrating tools resulting in damage to the blood vessels and nerves in the hands and fingers.
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Health, safety & legal issues related to body piercing, tattooing & scarification
Body piercing and tattooing has recently become popular across the age groups and at all social levels. In view of this increased interest, HSE approached HSL for technical assistance in updating its existing guidance on this topic.
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Hospital acquired infections
A study by HSL has applied occupational hygiene assessment, advanced microbiological detection techniques, air flow measurement and computational modelling to determine the movement of potentially infectious agents in hospital environments.
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Predicting the toxicity of bromochloromethane by PBPK modelling
A Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model has been developed at HSL which has been used to assist in the compilation of a risk assessment of bromochloromethane.
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