A conceptual model for take-home workplace exposures

Abstract

The boundary between occupational and environmental exposures is often artificial, as occupational hazards can readily escape the workplace. One way that this occurs is when workers “take-home” occupational hazards, exposing family members. While take-home exposures have long been recognized, there is no comprehensive framework describing the pathways by which workers bring home workplace hazards. In this article, we provide such a conceptual model that includes three pathways for take-home exposures: external contamination, internal dose, and behavior change of workers. This conceptual model should help to describe the problems of take-home exposures more comprehensively in future research.