Pernilla Wiebert

For decades, JEMs have been used to classify occupational exposures in large scale epidemiological studies, where the study participants were too many to be able to carry out individual exposure measurements, or where exposure backwards in time had to be assessed. With a Job Exposure Matrix (JEM), one can assess the exposure of several different occupational exposures in a cohort or registry study, using only an occupational code and knowledge of the time period of the exposure. SweJEM is a Swedish infrastructure that contains JEMs for chemicals, particles, metals, noise, vibrations, physical (ergonomic) strain, psychosocial working conditions, and low employment quality. SweJEM was launched externally in autumn 2023, https://ki.se/imm/swejem and JEMs has since then been sent out to research groups around the country. In addition, the JEMs have formed the basis for regions and authorities´ risk assessment of the work environment. Already during the development phase, it has followed exposure trends in over time in Sweden and have evaluated occupational exposures during pregnancy and health effects in the mother and child as well as occupational exposures in relation to our most common public diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. The first version of this unique national infrastructure now needs further development to become more detailed and more comprehensive than before. To achieve this, we need funds to collect new data from workplaces in Sweden. New data increases the relevance of the infrastructure by adding new later years of exposure, as well as improving the exposure history going back in time. In addition, we want to receive data from different types of employers, in order to e.g. be able to observe difference in exposure between large and small companies or for different demographic groups so that we can study differences in exposure patterns between men and women and between different age groups. Right now, this is only covered in parts of SweJEM. Finally, we also want to collect new occupational exposures such as UV-light, heat and cold in order to better cover the climate changes that affect the working environment. The aim is to keep the relevance of the infrastructure so that research groups, occupational and environmental medicine clinics, regions, occupational health care and authorities around Sweden can have access to the best possible exposure classification.

Reaching sustainable development goals will require increased recycling, particularly of common and rare earth metals, which require energy-intensive processes for mining, extraction, and refining. Therefore, the recycling industry must expand dramatically over the coming decade. Handling materials for recycling carries the risk of high exposure to mixed toxic metals and organic chemicals, repetitive work, and potential accidents. However, in Sweden we have surprisingly little knowledge about the current work environment in the recycling industry. Moreover, the knowledge about risks and systematic management of the work environment likely differs largely among recycling companies. Therefore, in the interdisciplinary project GreenMetalWaste, we aim to characterize the work environment with a particular focus on metal exposure in large and smaller metal recycling companies, explore the subsequent health effects, evaluate companies’ risk management, and work with the companies to find solutions to mitigate the risks. Specifically, we aim to recruit 200 workers (men and women) in Stockholm, Göteborg, Västerbotten, and Southern Sweden, and assess 1) their exposure by sensors and passive samplers, biomonitoring (particularly for metals), and questionnaire data

2) work-related health effects by questionnaire (work-related symptoms), biomarkers (oxidative stress, inflammation, and epigenetic changes) and lung function

and 3) together with the companies, find strategies to minimize risks (e.g. by safety-by-design or personal protection). GreenMetalWaste will align with similar efforts in the EU (“PARC”) and Denmark (“Genanvend”). The results of this project will provide knowledge about current exposure and risks in the metal recycling industry that are necessary when handling conflicts that may arise between the environmental and work environment goals for the Green Deal. In the end, GreenMetalWaste will make the recycling industry more sustainable.