Oberon Class Submarine Occupational Hygiene Project Final Report

Literature ReviewMethodologyThe peer reviewed literature and non peer reviewed reports, e.g., US Naval SubmarineMedical Research Laboratory reports and DSTO reports, relating to occupationalissues on board submarines were identified by electronic (medical [ PubMed andMedline] and occupational [NIOSHTIC]) data bases and Google searches.Assistance was received from Ms M.Bell from University of Adelaide, Barr SmithLibrary with the construction of the search string [(submarine AND (naval OR navyOR ships OR military)) OR submarines OR submarine medicine Or submariner*)AND English [lang]] and used with the PubMed electronic database. A similar stringwas used with the NIOSHTIC database. In addition to the above search string a searchof Medline and NIOSHTIC was made for ‘submarine’, ‘oberon’ and ‘diesel’. Noreferences could be found relating to ‘oberon’.Similarly, some departmental and organizational reports were identified via thesemeans. Other departmental documentation was identified by an electronic search ofthe Defence library database at the Royal Australian Navy Submarine and UnderwaterMedicine Unit (SUMU). Assistance was received from the OIC SUMU CMDR SarahSharkey, the SUMU Scientific Officer, John Pennefather and the SUMU librarian,Mr. Jaakko Tarhala. Dr Wally Mazurek of the Defence Science and TechnologyOrganisation (DSTO) assisted with the provision of relevant documents from DSTO.The Google search for ‘oberon’ did locate some sites with information about OberonClass submarines and reference to two DSTO reports. In addition it led to the locationof US and UK Navy Research Laboratory home pages and publications. The USpublications can only be obtained by purchasing from the National TechnicalInformation Service (NTIS) and likewise for the UK.Available LiteratureThe electronic databases (Pubmed, NIOSHTIC) do not identify any literature specificto Oberon Class submarines. There were 560 article references retrieved fromPubmed [National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. NationalLibrary of Medicine (NLM)] using the search string [Search ((submarine AND (navalOR navy OR ships OR boats OR military)) OR submarines OR submarine medicineOR submariner*) AND English[lang]], of which 124 were selected for their possiblerelevance for this project. Using a similar search string with the NIOSTIC inWINSpirs V2.1 database yielded a further 173 references. Both outputs werecombined and duplicates eliminated, yielding 294 references. Unfortunately many ofthe references are to work published in organizational reports or conferenceproceedings and are not readily available.16