157 Occupational chemical JEM development within the European Job-Exposure Matrix (EuroJEM), EU Exposome Project for Health and Occupational Research (EPHOR)

A first version of a European Job-exposure matrix (EuroJEM) for chemicals and particles has been developed within the EU Exposome Project for Health and Occupational Research (EPHOR). The aim was to produce an improved tool for exposure assessment for epidemiological studies on the European population. The working group includes experts on job-exposure matrices and/or occupational exposures from several European countries, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, France, and Spain.

The first version, EuroJEM1.0, includes Respirable Crystalline Silica Dust, Wood dust, Diesel Engine Exhaust (EC) and Nickel. Exposure data were obtained from JEM-holders, and occupational codes were translated into ISCO-88(COM).

Experts from the working group independently harmonized EuroJEM values from three to five JEMs for each agent. Consensus was reached during meetings. First the prevalence of exposed subjects in an occupation was assessed. In the next step a level was assigned to occupations with at least 25 % exposed workers. Nickel could not be assigned with exposure levels due to poor data quality. Regional differences in exposure have been included when indicated from the underlying data. The EuroJEM will be made publicly available.

EuroJEM contains 29 occupations exposed to Respirable Crystalline Silica Dust, 12 to Wood dust and 44 to Diesel Engine Exhaust and 14 to Nickel.

This is the first attempt to harmonize several European JEMs to be used in European epidemiological studies on work exposure and disease. It will be linked with the EPHOR mega cohort as a next step.