[Why an accurate diet for employees].

A study leaded in 2005 by the ILO on diet habits in different countries pointed out that poor diet at the workplace (leading to malnutrition or overweight and obesity) costs up to 20% & in lost productivity. Obesity is a major cause for absenteeism and can modify physiologic and immune responses to neurotoxins and chemical agents. Obese subjects show a higher risk to develop cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, due to exposure to vibrations, etc; quite often these workers are discriminated, are more sensitive to work-related stress and might experience a reduced self-esteem.

[Smoking in the workplace: role of occupational physicians].

In many industrialized countries smokers have been observed in high prevalence among workers with poor educational status, who are usually exposed to major occupational risks. The smoking habit and passive smoking may by themselves, or through interactions with other occupational risk factors, cause the onset of serious diseases. Therefore health reasons and the legal obligation to observe the smoking ban in the workplace make it essential to prevent and combat smoking in the workplace and to promote smoking cessation in workers who smoke.

[Tobacco's smoke in the workplaces, webpages in the ISPESL's website].

The authors present the section, part of the ISPESL's website, dedicated to tobacco smoke at work. In this subdivision many topics regarding problems caused by tobacco smoke in the workplaces are gathered and discussed so that different personnel responsible for health and prevention at work can find a technical answer to take part to the improvement of the psychophysical welfare of both smokers and non smokers. The general information section has collected the relative Italian and international laws regarding smoking in the workplace along with representative court cases, and some publications and essays which have been presented on this topic.

Aluminium and iron air pollution near an iron casting and aluminium foundry in Turin district (Italy).

This work reports the results of an environmental survey carried out in an industrial area in the Province of Turin: its main aim is to assess the levels of iron and aluminium in the outside air during the period from July to September to assess the influence of industrial activity (a cast-iron and aluminium foundry) which is interrupted during the month of August, on the level of metals present in the air. Conducting the analysis during this period of time made it possible to avoid the confounding effect of pollution due to domestic central heating. The measurements were taken from nine areas at different distances from the foundry in the area and according to the direction of the prevailing winds, as deduced from the historical data.

Occupational exposure to noise and hypertension in pilots.

The role of occupational exposure to noise as a hypertension risk factor has not been established sufficiently. The aim of the study is to evaluate whether chronic exposure to different levels of noise in two groups of pilots, operating with two types of aircraft, could be a risk for hypertension, what relevance the parameters (intensity, duration and type) of exposure can have and, lastly, whether there are any links between hearing impairment and hypertension. After excluding pilots with confounding factors, a study was made of 77 male pilots of turboprop planes (group A) and 224 male pilots of jet aircraft (group B), matched by age and working life.