The assessment of Health Risk to Occupationally Exposed Navy Personnel: A Consideration of Issues

Occupational exposures of Naval personnel to toxic chemicals and other substances occur continually by virtue of their jobs and the mission of the Navy. Such exposures are similar to, yet in many respects distinct from, either occupational exposures of civilian workers or environmental exposures of the general population. Primary dissimilarities may include the duration of exposure, the intermittent nature of exposure, and the age, health, and physical condition of the exposed population. Although the length of individual exposures may be similar, the cumulative time in which a worker is exposed is likely to be different. Any exposures at a given duty station are often intermittent, with prolonged (days or months) exposure-free periods in between. The Navy, therefore, is faced with developing an occupational risk assessment paradigm specific to, and appropriate for, the types of occupational exposures experienced by Navy personnel in the performance of shipboard or other duties. Acceptable risk must take into account not only the protection of worker health, but also the ability of the exposed individual to fulfill the Navy mission at hand. Hence, the toxicity endpoints, exposure assumptions, and risk assessment used as a basis of chronic risk determination for the general population may not be the most appropriate approach for Navy personnel in some situations. This article discusses the differences between Navy and nonmilitary exposure scenarios and contrasts the merits of some of the existing exposure standards and surveillance programs in use to estimate health risk in a Navy setting