Enviroderm Services

Chris Packham needs little introduction. He’s the leading UK specialist in occupational risk assessment relating to skin hazards and techniques to measure skin condition. He has over thirty years’ experience in the interaction between the working environment and skin, and his background in engineering gives him a unique perspective of the subject. A Practical Guide to Occupational Skin Management is not just a health surveillance guide − it is relevant for many different roles including health and safety, occupational health and occupational hygiene. This is not an academic or medical textbook − Chris’ intention was to produce a practical guide for anyone aiming to minimise the risk of skin damage in the workplace. The book is designed so that individual sections can be read as stand-alone chapters − there is no need to read the whole book if you are only concerned with, for example, risk assessment. While this means that there is a certain amount of overlap of information, it makes the book easy to read as you don’t need to refer to other parts of the book while reading to understand a particular section. There are 15 sections covering subjects such as the skin and working environment, structure and function of the skin, potential problems, risk assessments, control measures, health surveillance and management of skin conditions. The section on ‘what can go wrong and why’ is particularly helpful. This, together with the explanation of the role of the skin in absorbing hazards, helps explain why risk assessment and control measures are so important. Health surveillance itself forms a small section of the overall book − as it should if the health and safety hierarchy of elimination, substitution, engineering controls and administrative controls are appropriately used to reduce exposure and ultimately a reduction in reliance on PPE. This section may be of most benefit to occupational health practitioners but many, particularly those new to health surveillance, would also gain much from the earlier sections. The book is written in Chris’ engaging and informative style; it is very easy to read, and even the complex anatomy and physiology is explained clearly. Although there are fewer references than a medical text, the key references are provided for those who would like some additional reading. In conclusion this is an excellent book which I would recommend adding to your library.