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<p>Urban environments are emerging hotspots of microplastic generation and accumulation, with sources including textiles, road dust, traffic-related emissions, construction debris, and waste mismanagement. While existing research has largely focused on environmental contamination and food-chain transfer, the occupational safety and health (OSH) implications of microplastic exposure remain insufficiently examined. Workers across informal and semi-formal urban sectors, including waste pickers, street sweepers, sanitation workers, construction labourers, logistics handlers, and agricultural workers, experience disproportionate exposure through inhalation, dermal contact, and incidental ingestion during routine work activities. Informal workers, women, and children are particularly vulnerable due to labour-intensive practices, limited mechanisation, inadequate access to personal protective equipment, and the absence of occupational health surveillance. This review addresses the missing OSH perspective within the global microplastics discourse by examining occupational exposure pathways, including inhalation of airborne fibres and dust, dermal contact with contaminated surfaces, and ingestion of contaminated food and water at worksites, alongside potential health outcomes such as respiratory impairment, dermal irritation, systemic inflammation, and longer-term toxicological risks. Drawing on emerging evidence and illustrative case studies, the analysis highlights critical knowledge gaps in exposure quantification, epidemiological evidence, dose–response relationships, and co-exposures with other occupational hazards such as silica, dyes, and pesticides. By bridging occupational health, environmental science, and urban sustainability, this review advances a framework that positions workers as the first and most vulnerable receptors of urban microplastics. It calls for regulatory recognition of microplastics as an occupational hazard, the development of exposure monitoring and threshold guidelines, and inclusive policy approaches to protect worker safety while supporting sustainable and equitable urban systems.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>

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A systems-based framework for assessing microplastics as an emerging occupational safety and health risk

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月14日

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  • Abhijeet Das,
  • Satchidananda Mishra,
  • Krishna Pada Bauri,
  • Bhagirathi Tripathy

摘要

Urban environments are emerging hotspots of microplastic generation and accumulation, with sources including textiles, road dust, traffic-related emissions, construction debris, and waste mismanagement. While existing research has largely focused on environmental contamination and food-chain transfer, the occupational safety and health (OSH) implications of microplastic exposure remain insufficiently examined. Workers across informal and semi-formal urban sectors, including waste pickers, street sweepers, sanitation workers, construction labourers, logistics handlers, and agricultural workers, experience disproportionate exposure through inhalation, dermal contact, and incidental ingestion during routine work activities. Informal workers, women, and children are particularly vulnerable due to labour-intensive practices, limited mechanisation, inadequate access to personal protective equipment, and the absence of occupational health surveillance. This review addresses the missing OSH perspective within the global microplastics discourse by examining occupational exposure pathways, including inhalation of airborne fibres and dust, dermal contact with contaminated surfaces, and ingestion of contaminated food and water at worksites, alongside potential health outcomes such as respiratory impairment, dermal irritation, systemic inflammation, and longer-term toxicological risks. Drawing on emerging evidence and illustrative case studies, the analysis highlights critical knowledge gaps in exposure quantification, epidemiological evidence, dose–response relationships, and co-exposures with other occupational hazards such as silica, dyes, and pesticides. By bridging occupational health, environmental science, and urban sustainability, this review advances a framework that positions workers as the first and most vulnerable receptors of urban microplastics. It calls for regulatory recognition of microplastics as an occupational hazard, the development of exposure monitoring and threshold guidelines, and inclusive policy approaches to protect worker safety while supporting sustainable and equitable urban systems.

Graphical Abstract