Binks S P
GlaxoSmithKline Corporate Environment, Health & Safety, Ware, Hertfordshire, UK.
Occup Med (Lond). 2003 Sep;53(6):363-70. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqg116.
The pharmaceutical industry employs >350 000 people worldwide in operations including research and development (R&D), manufacturing, sales and marketing. Workers employed in R&D and manufacturing sectors are potentially exposed to drug substances in the workplace that are designed to modify physiology and also to chemical precursors that are potentially hazardous to health. Pharmaceutical workers are at risk from adverse health effects, including occupational asthma, pharmacological effects, adverse reproductive outcomes and dermatitis.
This study aimed to describe the approaches taken by pharmaceutical companies for identifying and communicating potential adverse health effects that may result from workplace exposures and in setting 'in-house' exposure control limits and to highlight the challenges in controlling workplace exposures to increasingly potent compounds.
The literature was reviewed by searching the Medline and HSELine databases.
The findings are presented in five sections, covering: test methods and approaches to occupational toxicology; hazard communication; approaches to setting health-based occupational exposure limits for pharmaceutically active agents; recent approaches to risk control; and occupational hygiene and exposure controls.
Significant efforts have been directed at predicting and evaluating potential occupational health hazards in the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry has provided leadership in controlling exposure to hazardous substances. Much of this work has been driven by a real need to control occupational exposures to substances that can have profound adverse health effects in exposed employees and that are becoming increasingly more potent.
制药行业在全球范围内雇佣了超过35万名员工，业务涵盖研发、生产、销售和营销。研发和生产部门的员工在工作场所可能接触到旨在改变生理机能的药物物质以及对健康有潜在危害的化学前体。制药行业的工人面临不良健康影响的风险，包括职业性哮喘、药理作用、不良生殖结局和皮炎。
本研究旨在描述制药公司识别和通报工作场所接触可能导致的潜在不良健康影响以及设定“内部”接触控制限值所采用的方法，并强调在控制工作场所接触日益强效的化合物方面所面临的挑战。
通过检索Medline和HSELine数据库对文献进行综述。
研究结果分为五个部分呈现，内容包括：职业毒理学的测试方法和途径；危害通报；设定基于健康的药物活性剂职业接触限值的方法；近期的风险控制方法；以及职业卫生与接触控制。
制药行业已在预测和评估潜在职业健康危害方面付出了巨大努力。制药行业在控制接触有害物质方面发挥了引领作用。这项工作很大程度上是出于实际需要，即控制对可能对接触员工产生严重不良健康影响且效力日益增强的物质的职业接触。
