Arnaud Bousquet

Risques professionnels: Etude par échantillonnage en Suisse romande

SummaryTo prevent professional injuries and diseases, the need of analyzing risks at the work place from the individual as well as from collective point of view, is emphasized by lawmaker.The present study shows that, using epidemiology enquiries allows one to analyse the prevalence of professionnal diseases in a population, without using the “LAA type” lists. Once can see that these diseases, though linked to professional activity, go far beyond the limits of the insurance prescribed definitions.

Petites variations du taux sanguin de vitamine A et leurs incidences sur la perception visuelle

The purpose of this study was to find out a simple perceptual visual test that gives the possibility to detect the visual incidence of slight variations of the vitamin A blood rate. The visual function was tested in 30 young subjects without refraction problems at the same time as blood concentration of vitamin A was measured. Visual tests comprised visual acuity at high and low luminance level, contrast sensitivity, glare sensitivity as well as attenuation characteristics of the eye toward flickering stimuli. Among all these tests, only the flicker test showed some relation with the plasma vitamin A levels, which were situated between 35 and 75 mcg/100 ml.

Divergences concernant la perception des risques chimiques

In Switzerland, employers and employees are requested to settle together the amount of risk and priorities for each industrial activity, for the needs of a federal commission in charge of occupational health specialists. After our results, this aim will be difficult to achieve, since the feelings of employers and employees on similar safety problems vary widely. In particular, chemical risks did not evoke similar reactions in employers and employees of the French and of the German-speaking regions. In order to help employers and employees to reach a consensus, a method will be developed in a near future.

[Principles of decisional analysis applied to the screening for occupational diseases: the example of occupational fluorosis].

In this paper, two oral presentations are combined. The first described the broad aspects of decision analysis and the second mentioned those medical data which need to be gathered in order to apply the model to industrial fluorosis. For this purpose, biological and medical observations were collected, both from workers of the aluminium industry and from controls. The five successive steps for building up a decision tree are then demonstrated, the aim of which being to evaluate the fitness of a screening strategy. A computer programme has been developed which may be applied both to occupational or non occupational diseases. Referring to industrial fluorosis, the computerized decision tree showed that screening with preshift urinary fluor, clinical and radiological signs, plus bone fluor rate is required, as soon as the risk corresponds to a 7% prevalence of the disease.

Enregistrement de la fréquence cardiaque en tant qu'indicateur de la charge de travail

ZusammenfassungWir legen die Ergebnisse der Aufzeichnung der Herzfrequenz (HOLTER-Methode) vor, verbunden mit einer Arbeitsplatzanalyse von zwei Gruppen von Arbeitnehmern (körperliche Arbeit und sitzende Tätigkeit). Wir prüfen, ob die Verwendung dieser Aufzeichnungen am Arbeitsplatz als Indikatoren der Arbeitsbelastung von Interesse ist.SummaryHeart rate registration associated with work place observations of two groups of workers (physical and non-physical activities) are presented. The authors discuss the value of heart rate registration to evaluate work load on the field.

Measurements of the visual performance of visitors to the Ideal Home Exhibition using a new prototype

The visual examination of drivers is usually limited to the measurement of photopic visual acuity. This study shows that it would be more appropriate, particularly for night driving, to measure the recovery time after glare, as well as the acuity-luminance relationship in mesopic conditions.

An Automatic Intermittent Light Stimulator to Record Flicker Persceptive Thresholds in Patients with Retinal Disease

Modern life implies more and more the extensive use of vision. Although artificial lighting is extending at a faster rate, although visual displays are more and more invading the workplace, eye doctors do not know much about this particular variable which affects the normal as well as the pathological eye.

Contribution à l'étude de la charge visuelle aux postes de travail avec écran de visualisation*

The ergonomic study of VDUs demonstrates the importance of visual stress in the total work load. By means of a laboratory experiment and authors showed that the distribution of light in the visual field exerts a major influence on the operators visual acuity. For this reason, it is of great interest to measure the visual performance in light conditions as close as possible to real working conditions. The results of this experiment can also be of practical value in formulating guidelines for the design of appropriate work places corresponding to the visual requirements of VDU operators.