Introduction and objectives:

The Conservation and Restoration sector has not yet been approached by Occupational Health in a complete or exhaustive way, so that there are several knowledge gaps in relation to their risk factors/ occupational risks.

The authors aimed to collect and summarize all the information they found on the subject, as a starting point for other projects that claim to be relevant, in the context of the occupational health of these professionals. However, as the papers found were scarce, a further review was made in the generic hazards of lead to human health, in order to address better the issue.

Methodology:

This is a Scoping Review, prepared in the last quarter of 2018, using Scopus; PubMed; Web of Science; Science Direct; Academic Search Complete; CINALH; MedLine; Database of Abstracts and Reviews; Central Register of Controlled Trials; Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Nursing and Allied Health Collection; MedicLatina and RCAAP.

Content / Results:

Between Conservators/ Restorers, there is the risk of contacting with Lead in inks (of paintings, sculptures, stained glass) and old buildings; as well as in the restoration of metal objects. Incidentally, some sculptures are made of bronze and lead, in addition to antique toys that were finished with an outer layer of this product, to obtain a certain color and/ or protection against corrosion. Welding contaminated materials also poses some risk. Sometimes this material was also used in cutlery, glasses and dishes, which can necessitate restoration. Contact with Lead involves specific medical problems.

Discussion:

Although there is very little published data and documents regarding the risks related to lead between Conservators/ Restorers, this is better described for other professional classes of the industrial sector or even general population and, in an intermediate way, also for the artists who elaborate diverse types of art pieces.

Throughout history we have several suspicious famous cases of saturnism in artists, a situation also called "painter's craze or madness" (Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Pierro della Francesca, Rembrandt, Goya, Fortuny, Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo and Portinari).

Limitations:

The authors made efforts to make their research exhaustive but, once completed, they realized that they did not find relevant data on: atmospheric lead assay in the Conservation/ Restoration workplaces (even generically, much less in the various subsectors: painting, sculpture, glass, metal, textiles, jewelry...); quantification of the associated risk for the Restorers/ Conservators, according to the atmospheric assays obtained and quantifications of the Lead, ALAU and/ or ALAD in an global sample of professionals of the sector, exposed to this agent or by subsectors.

Conclusions:

Lead has long been known to cause serious harm. However, the Restoration-Conservation sector is still very little studied in the context of Occupational Health and the risks of possible contact with Lead are no exception.

It would be very pertinent to have motivated teams to study this sector and to fill some of the limitations found, not developed in the international literature.

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