Risk Assessment of nasopharyngeal cancer: The case of occupational exposure to formaldehyde in pathology laboratories

There are several risk assessment methods available and possible to apply in contexts where occupational exposure to chemical agents occurs. However, there are some aspects that should be considered for select a more suitable and accurate risk assessment methods. Based on the risk assessment method proposed by the Queensland University, was performed nasopharyngeal cancer risk assessment among workers of 1 pathology and anatomy laboratory. Severity levels were defined based in available scientific literature. The probability levels definition took into account the frequency of each task, information obtained from the work ergonomic analysis. Risk categorization was performed in 6 activities._Only one of the activities was rated with low risk. The other activities (83%) were rated as medium and high risk (50%). Although, we have to consider some limitations of risk assessment method applied, it was possible to identify the activities and professionals with higher risk.