Environmental and biological monitoring of formaldehyde inside a hospital setting: a combined approach to manage chemical risk in workplaces.

BACKGROUND

The safety of healthcare workers exposed to formaldehyde remains a great matter of concern for healthcare management units. This work aimed at describing the results of a combined monitoring approach (environmental and biological) to manage occupational exposure to formaldehyde in a hospital setting.

DESIGN AND

METHODS

Environmental monitoring of working spaces and biological monitoring of urinary formaldehyde in 16 exposed healthcare workers of the Anatomic Pathology Unit of a University Hospital in Southern Italy was performed on a four-year timescale (2016-2019).

RESULTS

Values of aero-dispersed formaldehyde identified were on average low; although workers' urinary formaldehyde levels were also minimal, the statistical analysis highlighted a slight weekly accumulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data confirm that both environmental and biological monitoring are important to identify risk situations, in particular when values of hazardous compounds are below the accepted occupational exposure levels.