[The prevention of occupational exposure to anesthetics: the standards aspects]

Prevention of damage of occupational exposure to anaesthetic gases and vapors consists in limitation of pollution and in biological and environmental monitoring. Reduction of polluting concentrations can be obtained only by using both ventilation of the operating room and active scavenging; proper behaviour in accordance with prevention rules and psychologic involvement of personnel is also needed. Biological and environmental measurements are useful in order to evaluate the efficiency of prevention and to early detected overexposures. Acts and regulations in force at present in Italy and technical specifications concerning this problem are than reviewed. The author notices that in many cases, standards dealing with requirements to be satisfied should be established before performance standards; at any rate, regulations should also be more compulsive.