Department of Public Health, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.
Environmental Health Sciences Program, Department of Health Education and Promotion, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.
J Occup Environ Hyg. 2021 Jan;18(1):16-27. doi: 10.1080/15459624.2020.1842880. Epub 2020 Dec 7.
Agricultural workers are exposed to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation due to the significant amount of time spent working outdoors. Risk information on UV exposure from the EPA SunWise UV Index mobile app is conveniently available for timely advice on risk management, but its reliability is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of the EPA UV Index app in providing accurate risk information to reduce UV exposure and prevent related illnesses among agricultural workers in eastern North Carolina. UV radiation effective irradiance (UV ) indices were datalogged at two agricultural sites using radiometers from April-August 2019 and were assigned to risk levels (low, moderate, high, very high, extreme) based on the ACGIH Threshold Limit Values (TLVs). The UV index (UV ) and its corresponding risk level were obtained using the app. Hourly UV -based risk level assignments were time-matched to their corresponding UV /TLV-based risk level assignments (871 pairs) and analyzed using cross tabulation by determining the percentage of hourly UV /TLV-based risk levels ("gold standard") with the same hourly UV -based risk levels, with a larger percentage indicating higher app reliability. Results showed that the app correctly identified 100% of low risk conditions, but its reliability decreased as the UV risk condition became more severe. The app correctly identified 0% of moderate, high and very high risk conditions but instead assigned 100% of them to lower risk levels (30-100% as low risk, 5-70% as moderate risk), indicating that the app was less protective in assessing UV risk. The app correctly identified 0.6% of extreme risk conditions but assigned 99.4% of them to lower risk levels (9.4% as low, 29.7% as moderate, 24.6% as high, 35.8% as very high). It is concluded that the performance of the EPA UV Index app in assessing occupational UV risk is not protective of workers particularly for high risk conditions, and that the use of the app for the assessment of risk to UV exposure in agricultural settings is not recommended.
农业工人由于大量时间在户外工作，因此会接触到太阳紫外线 (UV) 辐射。EPA SunWise UV 指数移动应用程序提供了有关 UV 暴露风险的信息，方便及时提供风险管理建议，但该应用程序的可靠性尚不清楚。本研究的目的是确定 EPA UV 指数应用程序在提供准确的风险信息以减少北卡罗来纳州东部农业工人的 UV 暴露并预防相关疾病方面的可靠性。2019 年 4 月至 8 月，使用辐射计在两个农业地点记录紫外线辐射有效辐照度 (UV ) 指数，并根据 ACGIH 阈限值 (TLVs) 将其分配到低、中、高、非常高和极高风险水平。使用该应用程序获取紫外线指数 (UV ) 和相应的风险水平。将基于每小时的 UV 风险级别分配与基于 TLV 的相应 UV 风险级别分配进行时间匹配（871 对），并通过确定基于 TLV 的风险水平与基于 UV 的风险水平相同的每小时 UV 风险水平的百分比（“黄金标准”）进行交叉制表分析，百分比越大表示应用程序的可靠性越高。结果表明，该应用程序正确识别了 100%的低风险条件，但随着 UV 风险条件变得更加严重，其可靠性降低。该应用程序正确识别了 0%的中、高和极高风险条件，但将 100%的风险条件分配给较低的风险水平（30-100%为低风险，5-70%为中风险），这表明该应用程序在评估 UV 风险时的保护作用较小。该应用程序正确识别了 0.6%的极端风险条件，但将 99.4%的风险条件分配给较低的风险水平（9.4%为低风险，29.7%为中风险，24.6%为高风险，35.8%为极高风险）。因此，该应用程序在评估职业性 UV 风险方面的性能对工人没有保护作用，特别是对于高风险条件，不建议在农业环境中使用该应用程序评估 UV 暴露风险。
