Sun-safe pool policies effective at work

ATLANTA, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Interventions in the workplace may be effective for reducing sun exposure and improving sun protective behaviors of outdoor workers, U.S. researchers suggest.

Dawn M. Hall and colleagues at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta studied data collected from the Pool Cool skin cancer prevention program to analyze the associations among the pool environment, social norms and outdoor lifeguards' and aquatic instructors' sun protection habits and sunburns in 2001 and 2002.

Pool Cool -- a sun-safety education program conducted by Emory University -- is designed for use at swimming pools. Its main objective is to increase awareness, motivation and sun protection practices among children ages 5-10 who take swimming lessons, their parents, aquatics staff and other pool users.

A total of 191 pools participated in the program during one or both summers during which it was conducted. There were 699 participants in 2001 and 987 participants in 2002 -- ages 15 to 60.

Most participants were white and female and more than half were between the ages of 15 and 19.

The study, published in the Archives of Dermatology, found more than 80 percent of respondents reported habitually wearing sunglasses and more than 60 percent reported wearing sunscreen regularly -- while less than half reported regularly using a shirt with sleeves, staying in the shade or wearing a hat while exposed to the sun.