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Med. Pr. 2006;57(2):161-169

Regulation requirements for the protection of workers against electromagnetic fields occurring in the work environment

Wymagania przepisów dotyczących ochrony pracowników przed polami elektromagnetycznymi występującymi w środowisku pracy

Halina Aniołczyk, Marek Zmyślony Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland

Abstract

In Poland, electromagnetic fields (EMF), one of potentially hazardous physical factors occurring in the work environment, are subjected to compulsory surveillance. In 2001, the Directive issued by the Minister of Labor and Social Policy substantially changed the approach towards the protection of workers against EMF. The Directive regulates the whole range of EMF frequencies and electromagnetic radiation, namely from 0 Hz to 300 GHz, which means the possibility of assessing workerśs EMF exposure, determined by exposure index, along with the hygiene assessment of EMF sources, defined by protection zones. In 2003ś2005, a number of amended executive and supplementary regulations were issued. However, it should be emphasized that in the process of their elaboration, striving after perfection, numerous incoherent and ambiguous provisions were adopted, which finally created difficulties in the interpretation of individual regulations. This is also linked with doubts and discussions on their practical application by services responsible for control, measurements and monitoring of working conditions under the exposure to EMF. In this work an attempt was made to clarify all issues and arrange them according to the faced problems. The authors also present proposals how to solve all these problems.

Key words

electromagnetic fields, maximum admissible concentrations, exposure index, protection zones, workstations, frequency of measurements