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Sustainable Employment: Occupational Environment Exposure and Its Effects on Workers' Health

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 June 2024 | Viewed by 1414

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department SAIMLAL, Occupational Medicine Research Unit, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: work-related stress; noise exposure; risk assessment; mental well-being; risk factors in the workplace
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The working environment, which can be considered a crucial part of the sustainable living environment, exposes workers to health risk factors of various kinds (chemical, physical, biological, etc.) on a daily basis. Alterations to these risk factors can be potentially caused by the biological balance of the workers who are exposed to them, and by the transversal or organizational risk factors, which are a result of the company dynamics and the relationship between workers and the inconvenience that emerge due to the tasks they perform within a professional context. The role of the occupational physician fits into this context, with his main task being protecting the health of the workers through collaboration with the employer during risk and sustainability assessments, planning preventive measures and health surveillance.

In today’s context, where achieving sustainable development is deemed a global consensus, although the issues involving employees’ well-being have been highly discussed, limited research has been conducted at the intersections of organizational sustainability, employee well-being and occupational environment exposure. Additionally, many work activities have undergone transformations, which have led to different ways of implementing tasks, modifying the exposure to risk factors and determining the possible presence of new ones.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish new research on the risk factors present in the workplace, with particular attention to any changes in existing risk factors, and to new risk factors linked to the development of new working methods, with a focus on the activity of all the participants of the workplace for enhanced risk prevention and sustainable management.

We welcome both original research articles and reviews. Potential topics may include (but not limited to) the following:

  • Occupational environment exposure;
  • Risk factors;
  • Health of workers;
  • Sustainable employees well-being.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Simone De Sio
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • occupational environment exposure
  • risk factors
  • health of workers

Published Papers (2 papers)

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14 pages, 1402 KiB  
Article
Different Shades of Green: An Analysis of the Occupational Health and Safety Risks Faced by Wind Farm Workers
by Liliana Cunha, Daniel Silva and Mariana Macedo
Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 3012; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16073012 - 04 Apr 2024
Viewed by 554
Abstract
The growth of the wind power sector has been marked by environmental, economic, and political drivers. Its starring role is also visible in the emergence of the so-called “green jobs”. Notwithstanding, its evolution ought not to compromise issues related to occupational risks. This [...] Read more.
The growth of the wind power sector has been marked by environmental, economic, and political drivers. Its starring role is also visible in the emergence of the so-called “green jobs”. Notwithstanding, its evolution ought not to compromise issues related to occupational risks. This exploratory study examines psychosocial risks in the operation and maintenance of onshore wind turbines in a leading Portuguese company. We conducted interviews with main stakeholders (human resources, OHS professionals, and team leaders); developed an “activity diary” for the operation and maintenance technicians to describe their activity and perceived impacts on health, complemented with collective interviews; and applied the Work and Health Survey. The results revealed the following particular risks and health impacts: working under adverse weather conditions, working at heights and in confined spaces, spending long work hours inside of the nacelles to achieve an optimum balance between favourable wind slots to intervene and avoiding additional trips up and down the wind turbines without lifts (70–120 m), and the feeling of early ageing. At a time when these workers are striving for recognition of their profession as a “rapid wear profession”, it is a pivotal moment to discuss these results to guarantee sustainable conditions for future generations of workers. Full article
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19 pages, 817 KiB  
Systematic Review
Exposure and Early Effect Biomarkers for Risk Assessment of Occupational Exposure to Formaldehyde: A Systematic Review
by Carmela Protano, Arianna Antonucci, Andrea De Giorgi, Stefano Zanni, Elisa Mazzeo, Vincenzo Cammalleri, Leila Fabiani, Riccardo Mastrantonio, Mario Muselli, Giada Mastrangeli, Cinzia Lucia Ursini, Delia Cavallo, Diana Poli, Giorgia Di Gennaro, Giuseppe De Palma and Matteo Vitali
Sustainability 2024, 16(9), 3631; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16093631 - 26 Apr 2024
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Abstract
The aim of the present review was to identify all the biomarkers used for assessing the internal dose and the related early effects determined by the occupational exposure to formaldehyde. For this purpose, a systematic review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting [...] Read more.
The aim of the present review was to identify all the biomarkers used for assessing the internal dose and the related early effects determined by the occupational exposure to formaldehyde. For this purpose, a systematic review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (ID: CRD42023416960). An electronic search of Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science was performed to collect all the papers concerning the focus of the review and published from the inception of each database until 18 September 2023. Articles were considered eligible if they reported data from observational studies, semi-experimental, and experimental studies on adult workers who were occupationally exposed to formaldehyde, regardless of gender or age. The quality assessment was performed using the adapted Newcastle–Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. From 1524 articles, 52 were included. Few studies assessed the exposure to formaldehyde in occupational settings through biomarkers, especially by measuring formic acid in urine. The most common approach for evaluating the effects derived from occupational exposure to formaldehyde was the use of the cytogenetic biomarker micronucleus assay in peripheral blood lymphocytes and/or epithelial buccal cells. Full article
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