[The role of occupational physician in the risk assessment]

Occupational Physician has a marginal role in the Risk Assessment (RA). He is rarely involved and generally he only reads the documentation of RA made by other specialists in the prevention and safety. The law obliges him to work with the Employer, not only for the planning of health surveillance but also for the preparation of measures for the protection of the health and psycho-physical integrity of workers. But it is mainly for the content and methodology of the RA that it is necessary the contribution of the occupational physician. The RA is in fact a multi-stage and multi-disciplinary activity carried out in close collaboration with industrial hygienists, ergonomists, safety experts, psychologists. The occupational physician for his studies and education is the most appropriate professional to evaluate the quality of the data and to make an integration between indicators of environmental contamination and biological indicators of internal dose and effect or damage. We agree with the Italian Society of Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene that is necessary to proceed to the recognition of the role of occupational physician as a "consultant" of the company about health and safety in the workplace and involved in RA even when it is not necessary the health surveillance.