Measuring strategies for the nineties. Future needs from the health point of view

Abstract

Technological progress and related social processes will determine the measuring strategies of workplace air monitoring for the nineties even if the objective is dose estimation or compliance. Expectations of the lowest possible exposure, require workplace air monitoring to be closely linked to process control in a life cycle approach. Production regularity and preventive maintenance also become important factors for strategy design. Workroom air may lose some importance as a dose estimate for the estimation of toxicological risk, as multi-factorial causes for work-related diseases become more evident and a number of syndromes of unknown aetiology become increasingly important. Cancer, cardiovascular diseases, the indoor air syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivity are given as examples. Biotechnology and the information revolution have changed the basic principles of health monitoring and surveillance. The individual worker becomes the target and the possibility of individually adjusted monitoring, surveillance and workplace design becomes important.