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Prevention in Food Workers

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Kanerva’s Occupational Dermatology

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Abstract

Workers in the food industries are at high risk to develop occupational hand dermatitis.

Main risk factors for the development of OHD are high loads of wet work, exposure to irritants, and atopic skin diathesis.

First-line prevention strategies are based on collective protective methods like technical-organizational hazard control.

Additional strategies include changing the environment by substitution of wet work, for example, and encouraging changes in workers’ behavior such as reduction of frequency of handwashing.

If collective measures cannot be put into action, individual protective measures, for example, protective clothing with particular attention to gloves, protective creams before work and adequate cleaning of the skin during work, and skin care during and after work, are recommended.

Uptake and maintenance of skin care and protection measures can be substantially influenced by educational approaches in primary and secondary prevention.

For the food industry, only a limited number of studies in primary and secondary prevention of hand dermatitis are available.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, University Allergy Center, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Andrea Bauer

Authors
  1. Andrea Bauer
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Correspondence to Andrea Bauer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Environmental Medicine and Health Theory, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany

    Swen Malte John

  2. National Allergy Research Centre, Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Herlev-Gentofte University Hospital, Hellerup, Hellerup, Denmark

    Jeanne Duus Johansen

  3. Department of Dermatology and Allergology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Thomas Rustemeyer

  4. Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany

    Peter Elsner

  5. Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Howard I. Maibach

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Bauer, A. (2020). Prevention in Food Workers. In: John, S., Johansen, J., Rustemeyer, T., Elsner, P., Maibach, H. (eds) Kanerva’s Occupational Dermatology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68617-2_110

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68617-2_110

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-68615-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-68617-2

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