“From December 16th – on the occasion of National Day of Occupational Medicine – as an Italian Society of Occupational Medicine (Siml) we have opened a Helpdesk, a service dedicated to all workers who need more and scrupulous information on the correct use of the green pass. A new activity that is added to the various initiatives that we carry out every day to support the protection of the health of workers and the safety of the workplace. The pandemic has had a major impact on the workplace. In this context, our role has been and continues to be fundamental because we are engaged in the assessment and management of risk by Sars-CoV-2 “. Like this Ivo Iavicoli, Professor of Occupational Medicine at the Federico II University of Naples and president of the Campania section of the Siml, at the time.news Salute he takes stock of the last 20 months during which occupational doctors have been at the forefront alongside the various professions also through health surveillance, vaccination, information campaigns and training courses.
The Italian Society of Occupational Medicine, founded in 1929, has about 1,700 members and 12 territorial sections. “In these more than 90 years we have achieved many goals – recalls Iavicoli -. Occupational pathologies have significantly decreased as well as accidents but the goal is always the same: to eliminate deaths due to work, a real emergency “.
Increasing, instead, – according to the expert – the so-called work-related diseases, including disorders of the musculoskeletal system, stress, occupational tumors and, “as we have been observing in recent months, also diseases caused by biological agents – explains Iavicoli – and which we are trying to reduce. Furthermore, the average age of workers is increasing more and more and with it also the diseases and chronic degenerative diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, due to lifestyle habits and the passing of years and which can impact on working capacity. At the same time, we are witnessing new forms of work such as agile work, teleworking and the phenomenon of riders but also the use of new technologies such as nanomaterials, whose health effects are not fully known”.
In recent months, with the pandemic emergency, “we have tried first of all to follow the scientific updates on Sars-CoV-2 – underlines the expert – we are committed in the assessment and management of risk in the workplace, adopting all the strategies to combat the spread of the virus through prevention and protection measures such as the research and management of contacts in the workplace of a confirmed Covid-19 case, vaccination, information campaigns and training courses aimed at workers and focused on the importance of spacing, the use of respiratory protection devices and sanitation “.
And – he adds – “we take care of it the identification and assessment of vulnerable subjects in relation to the possibility of permanence or reintegration in the workplace, and in the latter regard also of those who have suffered from severe forms of Covid-19. A constant commitment that has made it possible to contain the spread of the virus in the workplace and thus continue to carry out work activities ”concludes Iavicoli.