Assessment of Daily and Annual Ultraviolet Radiation Doses Received by Outdoor Workers in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

A certain degree of solar light illuminance could prevent myopia in children. However, UV radiation (UVR) serves as mutagen and a non-specific damaging agent. Ultraviolet radiation can initiates and promote tumor growth, essentially under the skin. To this end, this study was designed to assess daily and annual UVR exposures of outdoor workers (OWs) in Southwestern Nigeria by using standard methods. Results obtained show that the mean daily and annual UV exposure were found to be 1.23 mW/cm2 and 319.8 mW/cm2 respectively. The mean predictive protection factor (PPF) for glass, trampoline and neem shade were found to be 43.84%, 98.69 % and 92.88 % respectively. This indicates that trampoline used to build tent has the greatest PPF followed by the shade of a neem tree. Results of this study also show that peak UVR exposures occur between 1400 and 1600 hours. Based on the findings of this study, outdoor workers could prevent UVR overexposure during the peak exposure period by working under the shade of a tree or wear effective UVR shields such as trampoline hat.