Image Credit: Getty Images / DIPA

This fall, the ninth Occupational and Environmental Exposure of Skin to Chemicals (OEESC) Conference will be held Sept. 23–25 in Dulles, Virginia. Since 2002, this conference has brought together leading international experts from an array of fields, including occupational health, toxicology, risk assessment and communication, dermatology, product stewardship, consumer fields, and more to exchange new research, ideas, and solutions regarding dermal exposure concerns. The most recent OEESC conference was held in Dublin in 2019.

As more chemicals are introduced into the workplace and inhalation-route occupational exposure limits continue to decrease, dermal exposure to chemicals becomes increasingly significant. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the incidence rate of occupational skin diseases or disorders was approximately 1.5 cases per 10,000 workers in 2022, the most recent year for which BLS has data. That works out to 16,900 cases of occupational skin disease of some type. However, a lack of standardization and scientific consensus makes assessing this type of exposure difficult, as does the complex nature of the task: identifying and quantifying the associations among external exposure potential, external dose, internal dose, and health outcomes for various chemicals are significant challenges. Several methods have been proposed for assessing these exposures and establishing dermal exposure limits or surface limits, so the guidance for practicing industrial hygienists on preventing or limiting exposures also varies widely. By bringing together multidisciplinary experts from all over the world to discuss research, share discoveries, and exchange ideas for practical exposure management, OEESC will help drive scientific consensus and enable progress in the prevention of ill health due to skin exposure.

The sessions for this year’s OEESC conference are organized into multiple tracks. The tracks include such diverse topics as surface sampling, dermal risk assessment approaches, skin decontamination, sensor technologies, dermal biological exposures, dermal uptake and modeling, and health effects.

Surface sampling is one of the more hotly debated topics in dermal exposure assessment. It serves as a surrogate, at best, for estimating dermal exposure, because not all contamination on a surface will transfer to the body, and not all contamination that does transfer to the body will permeate the skin to comprise an internal dose. To use surface sampling data effectively for exposure assessment, it is also necessary to have corresponding data on surface-to-skin transfer and skin absorption. However, what surface sampling can do is quantify the amount of contamination loading on a surface. With this knowledge, we can determine an amount of the agent that is available for dermal exposure. Surface sampling methods have been used extensively in the pharmaceutical industry, partly to protect products by preventing cross contamination, and partly to protect workers. Surface sampling also provides a method for assessing the effectiveness of cleaning and other housekeeping tasks.

Another hot topic on the agenda is skin decontamination. While flushing with water (or soap and water) remains the default recommended method in most cases, some researchers argue that decontamination through neutralization or application of other targeted agents is more effective because it avoids the “wash-in” effect through which water actually enhances percutaneous penetration or systemic absorption.

This conference will be a great learning experience for anyone with a stake in occupational dermal exposure management, particularly those who work in industries where dermal exposure or chemicals with skin hazards such as sensitization are common, or industries that use chemicals designed to affect change in the body, such as pharmaceuticals or medicine. Occupational physicians and nurses can learn more about treating patients with occupational skin diseases, industrial hygienists can discover more about assessing and controlling risks, toxicologists can share research on how dermal exposures work within the body, and students can get an in-depth introduction to the topic of dermal exposure. Everyone can benefit from expanding their networks and talking to experts in other disciplines.

If you care about occupational and environmental dermal exposures, I hope to see you in Dulles in September!

For more information about OEESC 2024 or to register, visit the conference home page.