ABOUT EV@LUTIL

The Evalutil program is based on a set of databases accessible via Internet and related to the assessment of occupational exposures to fibres and nanometric particles. The fibres are targeted asbestos and man-made mineral fibres (MMMF). MMMF are defined as mineral wools (glass, rock, slag), refractory ceramic fibres (RCF), continuous filaments of glass and special-purpose glass fibres (or Microfibres®). The nanometric particles (NP) are defined by solid particles with dimensions less than 100 nm, aggregates and agglomerates are included if their constitutent particles are in this size range. The NP studied have an anthropogenic origin, unintentionally emitted by work processes (UNP) and manufactured for commercial purposes (MNP).

The Evalutil databases provide assistance for assessing occupational exposures in order to: (i) guide decisions about preventive measures and medical surveillance of exposed workers; and (ii) facilitate exposure assessment in epidemiological studies about the health effects of such exposures.

The overall coordination of the Evalutil program is provided by the Occupational Health Direction of Santé publique France (DST). The scientific responsibility is shared with EpiCEnE team part of U1219 Research Center of Inserm wich is located in the Bordeaux School of Public Health of Bordeaux University (Isped). Long-term scientific relations between EpiCEnE and DST led in 2007 to the creation of ESSAT, an interinstitutional team working in the field of workplace health including some based in Bordeaux who are in charge of the scientific development on the program. The computer work is carried out in close collaboration with the Medical Computing Development Department at Isped (Credim). The steering committee includes representatives of the French Ministry of Labour, French National Institute for Research and Safety (INRS), French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), EpiCEnE, Credim and DST.

Since Evalutil was set up in 1992, many bodies have contributed to its development: Unit 139 of the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm U139), the Interuniversity Institute of Paris-Ile de France Occupational Medicine, the French National Health Insurance Fund for Salaried Workers (CnamTS) and its regional funds, the INRS, the Inhaled Particles Laboratory and the Hygiene and Control Fibres Laboratory.

Evalutil has been funded since 2001 by the Ministry of Labour. CnamTS and the National Public Health Network (RNSP) have also contributed funding in the past.

Evalutil currently consists of three document databases (asbestos, MMMF and NP), and three job-exposure matrices (asbestos, mineral wools and RCF), all described below.

The document databases contain files, that is, groups of records that describe one or several observed situations of occupational exposure and include descriptive data and measurements derived from the analysis of a source file (scientific articles, industry reports, or laboratory sampling sheets). A file can contain one or more records.

Each record is completed by a summary of the exposure situation and some information about the file from which it was derived: bibliographic reference, summary and number of records. An information quality index is also provided (scale of 1 to 5 or 7) to facilitate document interpretation by evaluating the level of description of the work situation and the analytical methods used for the measurements.

The job-exposure matrices are data tables in which the rows correspond to jobs (combination of an occupation and an industrial sector) and the columns to exposure indicators, assessed by experts: probability (i.e., the proportion of individuals exposed in the job under consideration), level (concentration) and frequency (proportion of the work day during which exposure occurs). The main type of exposure, direct or indirect can be provided.

To allow consideration of changes over time (e.g., in technology or regulations.), the period covered by each job analysis, referred to in the matrix as the "job period", is specified for each job.

The matrices present only those jobs periods for which the experts determined that exposure exists.

- a simple search by entering keywords,

- an advanced search by entering search criteria *,

- and an expert search by a multiple combination of criteria*.

Results can be printed.

* also known as indexing criteria