Special Issue

The ILO estimates that some 2.3 million people worldwide succumb to work-related accidents or diseases every year. It is a priority to provide an evidence base for prevention, policy, and practice. New risks have been identified with the introduction of new processes, substances, or technologies. However, traditional risks and diseases remain a priority. The actual COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic context brought light to the biological risk assessment process, representing a great challenge for practitioners.

Thus, this special issue on Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety: challenges for research and practice is seeking articles (original research, reviews, study protocols) indicating new trends, innovation, and novel approaches in the following topics:

• - COVID-19 management at the workplace (e.g. good practices, PPE efficiency, contingency plans implementation, impact on mental health, telework, health professionals exposure, among others)
• - New technologies, human factors and health outcomes (e.g. industry 4.0, industrial process automation, collaborative robots)
• - Risks management: new assessment methodologies / Innovative approaches for chemical, biological, physical, and psychosocial risk factors
• - Cognitive/mental/physical workload: psychometric properties of new instruments of assessment and new objective assessments
• - Work organization and design to prevent accidents and injuries
• - Nanomaterials and nanoparticles: exposure and assessment methods
• - Occupational and environmental mixed exposures: individual and combined health effects
• - Modelling approaches to estimate occupational and environmental exposures
• - New biomarkers in exposure science
• - Pedagogical innovation in occupational and environmental health and safety training programmes
• - Others

Guest Editors

Carlos Carvalhais, Environmental Health Department, School of Health of Polytechnic Institute of Porto and EPIUnit, Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, PT

Cristiana C. Pereira, Air and Occupational Health Unit, Environmental Health Department, National Institute of Health Dr Ricardo Jorge and EPIUnit, Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, PT

Joana Santos, Environmental Health Department, School of Health of Polytechnic Institute of Porto and Associated Laboratory for Energy, Transports and Aeronautics (INEGI/LAETA), PT