Saf Health Work.  2020 Jun;11(2):215-221. 10.1016/j.shaw.2020.03.004.

Making the Difference in Occupational Health: Three Original and Significant Cases Presented at ICOH Congresses in the 20th Century

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian Workers’ Compensation Authority (INAIL), Monte Porzio Catone, Rome, Italy
  • 2Center of Documentation for the History of Welfare and Health, Florence, Italy
  • 3School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano Bicocca, Monza, Italy
  • 4Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Republic of Korea
  • 5Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Ravenna, Italy

Abstract

Background
The aim of this study is to illustrate the historical role of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) congresses as an arena where national and international occupational medicine can dialogue and as the first example of scientific transferability of the research and prevention results that have had such an impact on global public health.
Methods
We used the ICOH Heritage Repository, in which ICOH congress proceedings (from the first congress in Milan in 1906 to the last congress, held in Dublin in 2018), are organised in an orderly way, updated and easily accessible according to open access logic.
Results
We describe studies by three physicians who submitted significant scientific work to ICOH congresses, one on the battle against ancylostomiasis (Volante, 1906), the second (Quarelli, 1928) on carbon disulphide poisoning, and the third (Viola, 1969) on the carcinogenicity of vinyl chloride monomer. Priority is given to Italian cases, on account of the authors’ obvious familiarity with the issues.
Conclusion
The visibility offered in ICOH conferences and their published proceedings has boosted the international spread of their findings, contributing to the scientific transferability of the research results and influencing the development of policies and prevention interventions that have had a great impact on global public health.

Keyword

Ancylostomiasis; Carbon disulphide poisoning; ICOH heritage repository; Occupational medicine; Vinyl chloride monomer
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