Concordance between the Stockholm Workshop Scale and the International Consensus Criteria for grading the severity of neurosensory manifestations in hand-arm vibration syndrome in a Swedish clinical setting.

Objectives: Occupational exposure to vibration using hand-held tools may cause hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). Correct diagnosis and grading of severity are crucial in protecting the individual's health and for workers' compensation claims. The International Consensus Criteria (ICC) has been suggested to replace the widely used Stockholm Workshop Scale (SWS).

Adverse health manifestations in the hands of vibration exposed carpenters - a cross sectional study.

Background: Despite EU regulatory standards, many workers suffer injury as a result of working with hand-held vibrating tools. Our aim of this study was to confirm whether carpenters, a highly exposed group, suffer more injuries to their hands than painters, a group assumed to be less exposed to vibration.

Methods: 193 carpenters (participation rate 100%) and 72 painters (participation rate 67%), all men, answered a questionnaire and underwent a clinical examination to identify manifestations of neural and vascular origin in the hands.

Dry sampling of gas-phase isocyanates and isocyanate aerosols from thermal degradation of polyurethane.

The performance of a dry sampler, with an impregnated denuder in series with a glass fibre filter, using di-n-butylamine (DBA) for airborne isocyanates (200ml min(-1)) is investigated and compared with an impinger flask with a glass fibre filter in series (1 l min(-1)). An exposure chamber containing 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI), isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), and 2,4- and 2,6-toluene diisocyanate (TDI) in the concentration range of 5-205 μg m(-3) [0.7-33 p.