A Discussion on Occupational Hygiene

Lees exposing dangers of occupational hygiene

The Faculty of Health Sciences welcomed Peter Lees of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on May 6 and 7 to present talks about his recent research concerning occupational and environmental epidemiology. Lees is a professor of occupational hygiene and his research highlighted the importance of hygienic practices and conscientiousness in the workplace, especially in factories where workers are exposed to dangerous levels of toxins.

In his discussion, Lees assessed the risk of lung cancer among factory workers who were exposed to hexavalent chromium, a very potent lung carcinogen. Although one of the factories he studied had been shut down several years before the study began, air samples had been collected and recorded throughout the entire 35 years that the factory had been in business. Using these quantitative data samples, Lees was able to create individual exposure profiles according to the work history, job title, and exposure by job of the workers. Analyses of the exposure estimates provided evidence that increased exposure to hexavalent chromium subsequently increased one's risk of lung cancer, and specifically, that certain jobs put workers at higher risk than others.

Throughout his lecture, Lees stressed the importance of implementing valid and reliable methodologies for conducting epidemiological research. As his study illustrated, quantitative data has succeeded in providing reliable results for risk assessment.

However, one major concern was expressed by Professor Iman Nuwayhid of the Department of Environmental Health, who noted that such data is scarcely available in counties like Lebanon, therefore creating a hurdle for researchers in the Middle East. Lees said that this is a natural problem faced by researchers all over the globe and that less quantitative methods have been successfully implemented in such cases. What is important in epidemiological studies is to be able to identify risk factors for disease and eliminate, as much as possible, exposure and create better hygienic standards.