ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
RISKS FOR FEMALE
PROFESSIONALS
WHAT DO THEY KNOW ABOUT
IT?
Prepared by
Samia Galal Saad, Ph.D.
Head of the Environmental Health Dept,
High Institute of Public Health Alexandria
University
Consultant to the General Organization for
Hospitals and Research Institutes
Introduction:
Female working environment should be
discussed under two major areas namely at
the household and outside her home while
carrying out her money-earning job in rural,
urban or desert environment.
Half the population in the Middle East region
are women who are conducting more than
60%-70% of the development work which
goes under estimated or even acknowledged.
Definition of Occupational
Hazards
All physical, and psychological injuries or
morbidity which a man or a woman can get
exposed to as a result of their work.
 Men and women exposure to biological,
chemicals, heat stresses, noise, radiation and
non radiating electro-magnetic waves is not
strictly confined to outdoor working
environment

Professional women working in medical
services are one typical example of those
females highly exposed to health hazards.
 Female as well as male engineers, chemists,
agriculture engineers, are among a wide
range of workers exposed to hazardous
chemicals while performing their jobs
.

*
Examples of Health Hazards for
Professional Women in Scientific
Research
Use of several instruments they know nothing about
their radiating emissions, or vapor emissions or ultraviolet light beams impacts on their health.
Use of hundreds of toxic, carcinogenic, abortive
chemicals without knowing safety precautions of
their use.
In biological research especially medical research on
causative biological agents to diseases they don’t
follow strict infection control or wear any protective
gears to prevent their infection and its impact on
their health as well as the rest of their families.
Women and Men vulnerability to
exposure risks

Men get more vulnerable when over worked,
or working under occupationally unsafe
conditions, mal nutritional, mentally stressed,
and exposed to multiple factors at the same
time.
 Men morbidity due to exposure to chemicals
can be enhanced by heat stress
 Smoking can enhance the risk of
occupational exposure
Women exposure
During women life cycle impacts of exposure in
working environment are increased during
puberty, pregnancy, weaning and menopause
periods.
Malnutrition, heat stress, long working hours, and
multiple pregnancy can increase the extent of
health impacts.
Bad housing conditions with less ventilation and
excessive use of chemicals and pesticides, passive
smoking, can enhance the risk of household
exposure for both men and women
Women working in Research or
Medical laboratories

Infection with highly hazardous infective
microorganisms, aids, infectious hepatitis, TB,
fungal infections. etc.
 Organic solvents and volatile organic
chemicals which can cause their infertility or
repetitive abortion.
 over exposure to metal vapors while
measuring heavy metal concentrations in
samples, radiation or electromagnetic waves
from equipment
Occupational Exposure In Health
Care Facilities ) Nurses(
Back and muscle Physical stress due to lifting,
carrying, long standing, and frequent
bending
 Fatigue due to change of sleeping pattern and
working night shifts.
 Continuous Exposure to infectious diseases,
causing respiratory track infection, blood
transferred diseases (HIV, Infectious
Hepatitis B& C)

Female Medical Doctors
 Repetitive
exposure to anesthesia
gases during pregnancy can impact
their children health specially the first
trimester.
 Dentists are exposed to X rays in case
more than one chair in the room.
Female secretaries and office
workers
 Smoking
clients and colleagues
 Dusty offices, files, and dirty bathrooms
 Exposure to carcinogenic and allergy
inducing photocopying machines ink.
 Noise and heat stress
 Women working as librarian can be
exposed to pesticides during controlling
vectors in their libraries.
Pharmacists and chemical stores
keepers





Continuous exposure to volatile drug components,
dust, and fungus accumulating in warehouses areas.
Continuous exposure to volatile organic solvents and
chemicals increasing the risk of different carcinoma
and toxicity
Increased stress by crowdness.
High risk of infection due to continuous contact by
sick people
Exposure to pesticides used to eradicate insects,
rodents, etc.
What should women do to
protect themselves and their
families?
They should read about the health risks of the
equipment they use.
Insist on wearing protective clothing and gears eg.
Wearing gloves, masks, and/or work in dedicated
places.
Work in clean well ventilated areas.
Insist on their rights for not being exposed to
smoking.
Wash their hands once in the house
Insist on their rights for conducting their working in
fuming hoods where evolved chemicals from
reactions could be absorbed
Recommended Safety Procedures
Strict adherence to safety and infection control
protocols
Avoidance of exposure due to negligence
Training the staff to acknowledge their working
environment risks and proper avoidance techniques
Conduct of environmental audits will pinpoint all
those exposures and will give solutions and
interventions to eliminate them.
Use of environmental friendly chemicals and
replacement of all solvent based paints or cleaning
operations.
Use of protective gears and request of
laboratory changes needed for protection
from metal vapors, organics vapors, etc, by
the use of fuming hoods in laboratories.
Use of proper safe equipment (pipettes,
burettes, etc.
Conduct frequent health checkups especially
early detection of cancer for females handling
chemicals daily in their work, or exposed to
pesticides in research labs.
Refrain from positive and/or negative
smoking.
In case of infertility or repetitive abortion
women should explain their working
environment to their gynecologists.