Personal exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields in various occupations in Spain and France

Maxime Turuban; Hans Kromhout; Javier Vila; Miquel Vallbona-Vistós; Isabelle Baldi; Michelle C Turner

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2023.108156

Personal exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields in various occupations in Spain and France

Environ Int. 2023 Oct:180:108156. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108156. Epub 2023 Aug 18.

Authors

Maxime Turuban¹, Hans Kromhout², Javier Vila³, Miquel Vallbona-Vistós⁴, Isabelle Baldi⁵, Michelle C Turner⁶

Affiliations

¹ Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.
² Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
³ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Radiation Protection and Environmental Monitoring, Wexford, Ireland.
⁴ Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain.
⁵ INSERM UMR 1219 Epicene Team, Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, Bordeaux, France; Service Santé Travail Environnement, CHU de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
⁶ Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: michelle.turner@isglobal.org.

PMID: 37722304
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.108156

Abstract

Background: A preliminary job-exposure matrix (JEM) for radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) was created based on self-reported occupational information from a multi-country population-based study of approximately 10,000 participants combined with available measurement data compiled in a source-exposure matrix (spot measurements). In order to address the limited personal occupational RF-EMF measurement data available in the literature, we performed a measurement campaign among workers in various occupations in Spain and France.

Methods: Personal full-shift measurements were conducted using RadMan 2XT™ (Narda) devices. A worker diary was used to capture information on occupational and background sources of RF exposure during the shift. Inclusion of occupations to be measured was initially based on exposure prevalence and level information in the preliminary JEM and expert judgment.

Results: Personal full-shift measurements were conducted among 333 workers representing 46 ISCO88 occupations. Exposure to electric (E) and magnetic (H) fields was infrequent with >99% of measurements below the detection limit of the device (≥1% of the 1998 ICNIRP standards). A total of 50.2% and 77.2% of workers were ever exposed to E and H fields respectively (having at least one recorded 1-second measurement above the detection limit). Workers in elementary occupations, technicians and associate professionals, plant and machine operators and assemblers had somewhat greater numbers of measurements above the detection limit, higher maximum values and longer exposure durations. A small proportion of measurements were ≥100% of the standards, though these exceedances were brief (generally a few seconds in duration). Female workers and workers reporting use of any RF-EMF emitting source were more likely to have a measured exposure to E and H fields.

Conclusion: We conducted personal RF-EMF measurements among workers in various occupations in Spain and France. Overall, RF-EMF exposure ≥1 % ICNIRP was infrequent, despite some intermittent exposures ≥100% observed among workers in some occupations.

Keywords: Job-exposure matrix; Occupational exposure; Personal measurements; RF-EMF.