A markedly increasing number of persons
are exposed to reduced partial pressures of
oxygen (pO2) at work, whether on business
flights, during business trips to places at high
altitudes (e.g. Colorado, South America), in
hypoxic fire-prevention areas, during service
and installation work (e.g. on cable cars or
skiing pistes), in rescue work or when looking
after sporting teams during high-altitude
training. The recommendations for occupational
medical care of such workers which
currently exist in various countries take into
account neither the kind of exposure nor its
level or duration, nor the specific physiological
aspects of work under hypoxic conditions
or at high altitudes. Thus they do not provide
practicable guidelines for a modern occupational
medical care based on a specific risk
analysis.
The Medical Commission of the International
Mountaineering and Climbing Federation
(UIAA MedCom), an international forum
for preventive medicine comprised of specialists
in the effects of high altitude and hypoxia,
has reviewed the various national regulations
and the currently available scientific
literature and has produced the international
recommendations given below. The differentiation
according to kind, level and extent of
exposure permits a specific risk analysis and
makes it possible to provide the appropriate
occupational medical care for the target
group.
