Protecting your skin from the sun: strategies and products for working outdoors

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation is an often underestimated risk factor, but UV radiation presents a real danger to skin health. In particular, the UVA and UVB components are capable of reaching the deeper layers of the skin and causing even significant damage. While concerns about direct exposure to ultraviolet affect everyone, they are felt most by workers who work outdoors (especially during the summer months), such as builders, farmers, gardeners or transport workers. Also concerned about the dangers of UV radiation are those who come into daily contact with artificial sources of UV radiation, such as welding tools, lasers, sunlamps and germicidal lamps, drying equipment or industrial control equipment.

But what exactly are the risks of exposure and how can they be countered with suitable strategies, PPE and the most appropriate professional products?

 

UV exposure: risks for professionals

Ultraviolet rays are capable of causing intense photoageing of skin cells, as well as sun erythema, severe sunburn and reactivation of the herpes simplex virus. In addition, UV penetration into the skin is capable of damaging cellular DNA, leading to the development of skin tumours and melanomas.

In addition to the skin, UV rays can also seriously affect the eyes, generating pathologies such as cortical cataracts, the outcome of which is often severe and disabling.

Proper management of the working environment is certainly the first step towards ensuring the well-being of employees and creating healthy and safe working conditions, both in the short and long term.

 

How to protect workers’ skin from UV radiation?

Legislative Decree 81 /08 (Occupational Health and Safety Act) requires the employer to carry out an adequate risk assessment, including those related to excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Risk analysis should always be accompanied by adequate training of workers on the occupational risks they face every day.

In order to organise tasks and workspaces appropriately, a multiple combination of elements should always be taken into account. The risk from ultraviolet radiation is in fact linked both to specific workplace conditions and to strictly individual worker data.

The first group includes, for example, the presence of photosensitising agents in the environment, such as sulphonamides and similar chemicals, coal tar, disinfectants, dyes or cadmium sulphide. But that is not all: each workstation may be subject to a certain degree of direct UV radiation (natural or artificial), but also to a good deal of reflected radiation, from the ground, asphalt, snow, light marble, water basins and so on.

Personal conditions to be examined include the health situation of the individual employee and his or her constitutional characteristics. Collagen-related diseases, treatment with photosensitising drugs, iris and pupil changes or the presence of photo-induced diseases are predisposing factors for skin risk, along with the phototype.

The latter is an important discriminator in assessing the risk of UV radiation: six different skin types (phototypes) have been identified, each more or less able to react to exposure to radiation without suffering damage. While a phototype 1 has very light skin and is particularly fragile, a phototype 6, i.e. a person with extremely dark skin, is less likely to develop skin problems following UV exposure.

 

Preventive measures against ultraviolet exposure

Timely identification of risks is indispensable in order to be able to adopt effective prevention measures tailored to the real needs of individual employees. Among the main actions to be implemented is the creation of suitable environmental photo-protection barriers, by covering the work area exposed to sunlight with appropriate tarpaulins, or delimiting areas where artificial radiation is produced. It is also essential to organise shifts and working hours in such a way as to avoid outdoor work during the times of day when radiation is most intense (if possible).

With a view to effective UV skin risk prevention, it is essential to develop skin protection strategies that include the use of PPE and high-performance professional products. The use of goggles, hats and clothing with shielding fabrics is an excellent solution, but it is also important to protect the exposed portions of the skin with the use of a product that is as simple to use as it is essential in the fight against skin pathologies: a sun lotion with a high protection factor.

It is an ally that can provide excellent coverage against ultraviolet rays, provided it is of a high quality standard and capable of shielding the skin from both UVB and UVA rays. The Nettuno proposal for this specific need? Protexsun Protection, now in the new formulation with SPF 50.

 

Protexsun Protection SPF50 professional sun cream

Products containing sunscreens have proven to be essential in reducing the incidence of skin diseases related to UV radiation. The choice of sunscreen to be used in the workplace should always be made with the help of a competent doctor, who can indicate the most appropriate Sun Protection Factor (SPF) for the type of task and working conditions.

What is the relationship between SPF and UV protection? The SPF factor of a sun lotion indicates how much longer the skin can be exposed to radiation without suffering stress, erythema or sunburn. An SPF of 50, such as the one we selected for our Protexsun Protection 50, means that when wearing the lotion, the skin can be exposed to UV for 50 times longer than normal, without any significant risk.

In order to determine exactly when and how to apply the cream, it is always important to consider the phototype and individual risk factors, and it must also be borne in mind that ultraviolet rays can reach the skin even on cloudy days or during the winter months, times when we typically tend to lower our guard against UV damage.

Protexsun Protection SPF50 is a protective cream specifically formulated to protect the skin from photoaging, sunburn, oxidative stress and cell damage. For maximum benefit, simply apply it to the face and body before your shift, massaging it in until completely absorbed. Its light texture leaves no trace on the skin and offers an immediate barrier against the damaging action of UV rays. To maintain constant protection, it is a good idea to reapply it regularly, especially after contact with water or in conditions where skin perspiration is high. Dermatologically tested and easily tolerated even by sensitive skin, it is free of silicone, dyes and parabens, but enriched with emollient ingredients.

You can integrate Protexsun Protection SPF50 into your freelance routine, or make it available to your employees if you are an employer or RSPP interested in maximising the well-being of your workers. Avoiding occupational skin diseases allows you to keep your productivity at the top of your game while minimising the costs and inconveniences of managing work-related illness.

 

Ask our consultants for more information about Protexsun Protection SPF50 and how to effectively integrate it into a complete skin care programme, including hand cleansers and skin nourishing products.