Methodology of risk assessment by the occupational physician at the light of new legislative rules

The occupational physician may play a crucial role in the risk assessment of workers in a given occupational environment. In fact, according to the current italian legislation, the document on risk assessment must be produced by the employer, with the cooperation of the responsible for prevention and safety and, in the due contexts, with the contribution of the occupational physician. Therefore, a cooperation between the different figures involved in the process is a pre-requisite for the elaboration of an adequate planning of preventive measures. From the point of view of the occupational physician, it seems necessary a preliminary in-depth knowledge of the plant and of the various steps of the productive process. In particular it is mandatory to have precise data on the number of workers, the mean age, work seniority, and the percentage of disabled workers. As a corollary, it is important to know the frequency of occupational related disorders, the number of accident at work, and the possible presence of contentious procedures with security organisms. Several important open questions remain, however: in particular to establish a causal relationship of any disorder with occupational situtations and to discriminate between distressing situations inside and outside the work environment.