Real time UV erythemal personal exposure monitoring in outdoor workplaces

In addition to the many beneficial effects that the solar radiation (SR) has on human beings, the ultraviolet (UV) band can produce several adverse effects to skin and eyes. Both acute and long-term effects are due to UV overexposure and the damage, as well as the risk, increase with the duration of exposure. To reduce the incidence of those risks, outdoor workers should take careful behaviors, reducing the tissues exposition to sun. Nowadays, there are many easy-to-use apps and tools to estimate outdoor exposition with UV-index. However, the use of a such simple measurement is not sufficient for a correct estimation of the UV dose to skin and eyes; in fact the UV erythemal dose is measured only with scientific instruments and the acquired data have to be postprocessed. The paper presents a prototype of a personal and wearable smart device for estimating in real time the UV erythemal exposure of outdoor workers. The device is equipped with several sensors able to detect the body posture assumed by worker and to communicate with a Smartphone's app which provides geographical coordinates, the sun position and UV irradiation level from satellite data. Hence, with the help of an algorithm, the software can calculate an estimation of the UV dose.