Occupational hazards of municipal solid waste workers

The removal of municipal solid waste is a job associated with a variety of physical, chemical, and biological hazards. Municipal solid waste workers (MSWWs) have a risk of fatal occupational injuries that is much higher than for the general workforce. Among this group of workers, non-fatal injuries are mainly musculoskeletal. Other common injuries are fractures, ocular trauma, and bites, and diseases include skin and gastrointestinal disorders. Workers at municipal solid waste incinerators are exposed to a variety of concerning substances, such as heavy metals, respirable quartz dust, dioxins, furans, and mutagens. Workers can be protected by using safety procedures on and around garbage trucks and with personal protective equipment. The burden of morbidity due to occupational exposure to bioaerosols and carcinogens among MSWWs is unknown.     

Occupational health and safety in the mining industry in Morocco

The mining sector is one of the pillars of our national economy. Our paper concerns safety and occupational health in the mining sector in Morocco. This sector employs 60,000 persons, more than half of them working in the phosphate sectors. There are 36 occupational medical services, with 83 practitioners 395 nurses and 91 agents, protecting 43,926 workers (73% of all personnel). The task of labour inspection in this sector is entrusted to mining engineers. The statistics of the central department of industrial inspection in mines from 1975 to 1995 show a fall in occupational injuries and a progressive increase reported in occupational diseases, 96% of which are silicosis. The improvement of prevention and health at work in the mining sector in Morocco has led to a reduction in occupational hazards and specially occupational injuries. However, an effort seems required so as to generalize occupational medical and safety services in all the mining enterprises and in the craft mining sector in particular.     

Occupational health research in India

India being a developing nation is faced with traditional public health problems like communicable diseases, malnutrition, poor environmental sanitation and inadequate medical care. However, globalization and rapid industrial growth in the last few years has resulted in emergence of occupational health related issues. Agriculture (cultivators i.e. land owners + agriculture labourers) is the main occupation in India giving employment to about 58% of the people. The major occupational diseases/morbidity of concern in India are silicosis, musculo-skeletal injuries, coal workers' pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive lung diseases, asbestosis, byssinosis, pesticide poisoning and noise induced hearing loss. There are many agencies like National Institute of Occupational Health, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Central Labour Institute, etc. are working on researchable issues like Asbestos and asbestos related diseases, Pesticide poisoning, Silica related diseases other than silicosis and Musculoskeletal disorders. Still much more is to be done for improving the occupational health research. The measures such as creation of advanced research facilities, human resources development, creation of environmental and occupational health cells and development of database and information system should be taken.     

Occupational medicine in the Slovene area

Slovenia is a small, fast developing country in the EU with approximately 2,000,000 inhabitants and 700,000 employed. Occupational medicine has been present in Slovenia for as long as 500 yr. Today, 130 specialists of occupational medicine are in charge of health protection of the employed (including transport workers and athletes). There are also 1,100 safety engineers, who take care of the technical side of occupational safety. We are guided in our work by modern occupational health and safety legislation, which is based on EU directive 89/391EEC. The average sick leave rate in Slovenia is about 4.7%, caused mostly by injuries, bone, muscle and connective tissue diseases and respiratory diseases. Sick leave appears most frequently in the textile industries and coal mining. Annually, around 26,000 occupational injuries (32.7 per 1,000 employed) and 25 fatalities (3 per 100,000 employed) occur. Most injuries occur in construction, manufacturing and farming. Each year there are 8,500 disablility cases (2,500 disability retirements-most caused by mental illnesses), but only 30 acknowledged cases of occupational diseases (mostly occupational skin diseases, asthma and asbestosis). Occupational medicine in Slovenia is strongly associated with occupational medicine in the more developed European countries. It is therefore moving out of clinics and into the working environment, where its goals lie in primary prevention, i.e. establishing and keeping healthy working environments that guarantee high productivity, health and well-being of workers as a whole.     

Summary of "Proposed national strategies for the prevention of leading work-related diseases and injuries, Part 1"

Strategies for the prevention of leading occupational health problems have been proposed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). NIOSH prepared these strategies following publication in 1983 of its suggested list of ten leading work-related diseases and injuries. At a national symposium in 1985, occupational health experts from academia, organized labor, management, professional associations, and voluntary organizations conducted an in-depth evaluation of the prevention strategies for the first five conditions on the list: occupational lung diseases, musculoskeletal injuries, occupational cancers, severe occupational traumatic injuries, and occupational cardiovascular diseases. The strategies were then revised to incorporate improvements suggested at the symposium and were published in booklet form. A summary of the revised strategies is provided.     

Workers' health in Israel.

BACKGROUND: Occupational hazards are important causes of morbidity, mortality, and disability in the community. This article presents a review of workers' health in Israel. METHODS: Data were collated from the Occupational Health Institute of the University of Tel Aviv, the National Insurance Institute, the Occupational Health Departments of the General Sick Fund, and the Institute of Safety and Hygiene of the Ministry of Labor and Welfare. International comparisons are based on data derived from the WHO Health for All database for the European region. RESULTS: Levels of most biological and chemical exposures in 1996 were found to be in accordance with the standards, except for dust, gases, pesticides, and noise exposure. In 1996, 4.3% of the working population received injury compensation from the National Insurance Institute. 78% of workers' claims approved in 1992-1994 were for injuries to the back and spine. 93% of new cases of occupational diseases and injuries reported in 1996 by the occupational health service of the largest Health Fund were due to noise-induced hearing impairments. In 1996, there were 87 reported deaths following work accidents; about 50% of them were falls that occurred in the construction industry, and 26% of fatalities were among foreign workers. Rates of work accidents, average days of incapacity per accident, and fatalities have been increasing since 1991. Rates of occupational accidents and of occupational fatalities are higher than the European Community average. CONCLUSIONS: Rates of occupational diseases and of injury compensation among workers are increasing, despite the efforts and resources invested in the prevention of work accidents and the promotion of workers' health. These findings indicate the necessity for further research and efforts toward the prevention of injuries and the promotion of occupational health in Israel.     

我国人群的主要卫生问题——全国疾病监测死亡资料分析

利用全国疾病监测系统的5年死因监测资料,使用标化死亡率、潜在减寿年数(YPLL)和失能调整的损失健康生命年(DALY),对我国人群的主要卫生问题进行了分析。由于人口的老龄化,感染性疾病死亡下降而导致慢性病相对重要性的上升,以及某些危险因素上升,致使肺癌等疾病呈上升趋势,从而我国的疾病模式不同于50年代的模式,呈现出这样的特点:虽然感染性疾病有所下降,构成比降低,但并未得到根本控制。同时,慢性病、意外伤害所导致的卫生问题上升,形成双重挑战。     

Occupational morbidity in medical workers of the Primorye Territory

The labor of medical workers is characterized by a lot of harmful and dangerous factors; females account for more than 80% of medical workers. The rise in the incidence of recorded occupational diseases is observed in the pre-pension period as this category of medical workers have to conceal their morbidity in order to preserve their job until they can get pension. By taking into account the results of in-depth assessment of the working conditions and health status of female medical workers, it can be said that the incidence rates of occupational diseases in the Primorye Territory are contrary to fact: they should be much higher as morbidity with temporary disablement and occupational morbidity exceed the average rates and clearly tended to increase.     

某焦化厂恶性肿瘤死亡的回顾性队列研究

[目的]了解职业有害因素对某焦化厂工人恶性肿瘤死亡的影响。[方法]对该焦化厂工人疾病死因进行14年(1988～2001年)回顾性队列分析，以上海市人口的肿瘤死亡率作为标准对照，计算标准化死亡率比(SMR)及其95％可信区间(95％CI)。[结果]①队列观察期间共死亡．463人，粗死亡率516．08／10万，其中恶性肿瘤死亡173人，占全死因37．37％，其他依次为血管系统疾病、呼吸系统疾病、损伤和中毒等。②炼焦工作区男性职工肺癌和膀胱癌SMR分别为2．77和8．03；副产品工作区男性职工胃癌和白血病．SMR分别为1．89和4．14。累计工龄超过20年以上的炼焦工作区男性职工肺癌SMR为2．84；副产品工作区男性职工肺癌和胃癌SMR分别为2．13和2．05；传输工作区男性职工胃癌SMR为2．92。[结论]该焦化厂职业危害因素有使男性职工恶性肿瘤死亡率增高的趋势，但需在控制职业和非职业因素的情况下作更深入的研究。     

Effect of recall period on the reporting of occupational injuries among older workers in the health and retirement study

Studies of injury morbidity often rely on self-reported survey data. In designing these surveys, researchers must chose between a shorter recall period to minimize recall bias and a longer period to maximize the precision of rate estimates. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, which employed a recall period of 1 year, we examined the effect of the recall period on rates of occupational injuries among older workers as well as upon rate ratios of these injuries for nine risk factors. We fit a stochastic model to the occupational injury rates as a function of time before the interview and used this model to estimate what the injury rates would have been had we used a 4-week recall period. The adjusted occupational injury rate of 5.9 injuries per 100 workers per year was 36% higher than the rate based on a 1-year recall period. Adjustment for recall period had much less effect on rate ratios, which typically varied by <10%. Our work suggests that self-reported surveys with longer recall periods may be used to estimate occupational injury rates and also may be useful in studying the associations between occupational injuries and a variety of risk factors.     

Global burden of disease and injury due to occupational factors.

We made estimates of absolute morbidity and mortality due to occupational factors for the world using all available published data as of 1994, and, where no data were available, applying the most appropriate (in terms of similar economy, race, and environment) age-/sex-/diagnosis-specific incidence and mortality rates to known working population distributions. We report results according to economic groupings determined by the World Bank (World Development Report, 1993) and disease and injury groupings according to The Global Burden of Disease project (1997). This was part of a larger study that estimated the total global disease burden. We present aggregate results and analyses by region and disease. We estimate that approximately 100,000,000 occupational injuries (100,000 deaths) and 11,000,000 occupational diseases (700,000 deaths) occur in the world each year. We regard these as very conservative estimates which, although unavoidably crude, can nevertheless provide a basis for health priority planning at global level.     

Respiratory illness in agricultural workers

Respiratory diseases have long been recognized in association with work in farming. Overall, only a small proportion of the population is employed in agriculture, so respiratory disease in farmers is not a major public health issue. However, farmers are known to have high morbidity and mortality from certain respiratory diseases, as shown by routinely collected statistics. Despite this, knowledge of the frequency, nature and risk factors for some respiratory disorders in agricultural workers is incomplete. Multiple exposures are common and some exposures can give rise to more than one specific disease. Moreover, the most common respiratory symptoms reported by farm workers (wheeze, dyspnoea and cough) are relatively non-specific and can be associated with several occupational respiratory disorders. This review describes the main occupational respiratory illnesses in farming and summarizes the current literature about epidemiology and prevention. The most important diseases are rhinitis and asthma, which, although common, are not usually fatal. Some non-allergic conditions, e.g. asthma-like syndrome and organic toxic dust syndrome, are not yet fully understood, but appear to be common among farm workers. The most serious respiratory diseases are hypersensitivity pneumonitis and respiratory infections, but these are rare. Most importantly, respiratory diseases are preventable by controlling harmful exposures to organic dust, toxic gases and chemicals on farms through improvements in animal rearing techniques, ventilation of animal accommodation, careful drying and storage of animal feed-stuffs, crops and other products, and use of personal protective equipment.     

Occupational health and safety in Brazil

BACKGROUND. Brazil is the world's fifth largest and sixth most populous nation. Its economy is varied, with strong manufacturing, agriculture, mining, and service sectors. Therefore, a wide variety of workplace hazards confronts its work force. This paper describes Brazil's occupational safety and health regulatory scheme, workers' compensation system, plant-level practices, training, and data collection. METHODS. We reviewed and analyzed Brazilian regulatory legislation and government and non-governmental organization (NGO) activity in occupational safety and health, as well as the structure and function of the workers' compensation system. We also reviewed available data on injuries and diseases from major sources, including the now-defunct Instituto Nacional do Previdencia Social (INPS) and the workers' compensation scheme, Seguro de Acidente de Trabalho (SAT). RESULTS. The incidence of workplace injuries has decreased in recent years and is now reported to be about 5 per 100 workers per year. The case fatality rate has been constant at about 5 fatalities per 1000 injuries. Less than 6% of reported injuries are classified as "diseases." Brazil's rates are comparable to those of Mexico and Zimbabwe, and two to four times higher than in most industrialized countries. CONCLUSIONS. Brazil has a high incidence of occupational injuries and diseases; these injuries and diseases are underreported; there is a large informal sector at special risk; and Brazil illustrates the disparity that exists in many countries between legislation on the books and legislation that is actually implemented.     

Global Estimates of the Burden of Injury and Illness at Work in 2012

This article reviews the present indicators, trends, and recent solutions and strategies to tackle major global and country problems in safety and health at work. The article is based on the Yant Award Lecture of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) at its 2013 Congress. We reviewed employment figures, mortality rates, occupational burden of disease and injuries, reported accidents, surveys on self-reported occupational illnesses and injuries, attributable fractions, national economic cost estimates of work-related injuries and ill health, and the most recent information on the problems from published papers, documents, and electronic data sources of international and regional organizations, in particular the International Labor Organization (ILO), World Health Organization (WHO), and European Union (EU), institutions, agencies, and public websites. We identified and analyzed successful solutions, programs, and strategies to reduce the work-related negative outcomes at various levels. Work-related illnesses that have a long latency period and are linked to ageing are clearly on the increase, while the number of occupational injuries has gone down in industrialized countries thanks to both better prevention and structural changes. We have estimated that globally there are 2.3 million deaths annually for reasons attributed to work. The biggest component is linked to work-related diseases, 2.0 million, and 0.3 million linked to occupational injuries. However, the division of these two factors varies depending on the level of development. In industrialized countries the share of deaths caused by occupational injuries and work-related communicable diseases is very low while non-communicable diseases are the overwhelming causes in those countries. Economic costs of work-related injury and illness vary between 1.8 and 6.0% of GDP in country estimates, the average being 4% according to the ILO. Singapore's economic costs were estimated to be equivalent to 3.2% of GDP based on a preliminary study. If economic losses would take into account involuntary early retirement then costs may be considerably higher, for example, in Finland up to 15% of GDP, while this estimate covers various disorders where work and working conditions may be just one factor of many or where work may aggravate the disease, injury, or disorders, such as traffic injuries, mental disorders, alcoholism, and genetically induced problems. Workplace health promotion, services, and safety and health management, however, may have a major preventive impact on those as well. Leadership and management at all levels, and engagement of workers are key issues in changing the workplace culture. Vision Zero is a useful concept and philosophy in gradually eliminating any harm at work. Legal and enforcement measures that themselves support companies and organizations need to be supplemented with economic justification and convincing arguments to reduce corner-cutting in risk management, and to avoid short- and long-term disabilities, premature retirement, and corporate closures due to mismanagement and poor and unsustainable work life. We consider that a new paradigm is needed where good work is not just considered a daily activity. We need to foster stable conditions and circumstances and sustainable work life where the objective is to maintain your health and work ability beyond the legal retirement age. We need safe and healthy work, for life.     

护理人员的职业损伤因素及健康维护

作者指出临床一线的护理人员是发生职业损伤的高危群体。产生职业损伤的危险因素包括基础教育和继续教育缺乏职业损伤及其防范知识；影响护理人员身体健康的诸因素，如化疗专用的溶药设备、洁净操作台或相对密闭的溶药环境不健全；乙型肝炎等医院内易感性等疾病增加，被血液、体液等污染的医疗锐器刺伤是护理人员职业感染的主要途径；护理人员工作职业特点对健康不利的影响，护理人员心理压力大。为维护护理人员身心健康，应加入医院感染、职业损伤和健康维护的在校理论教育内容，加强护理人员职业安全教育，采取防范职业损伤的措施，如化疗药物中心配药、使用一次性手套等措施。     

Epidemiological research, operational planning, and intervention measures in workers' health

To improve intervention measures in workers' health involves the adoption of approaches aimed at implementing inspection of the workplace, using ethical interventions with impact on the Brazilian Health System. Instruments include risk assessment, information flows, and identification of workers' morbidity and mortality characteristics. Such measures are planned with four operational bases: trade unions, production sector, sentinel event, and microregion, establishing a new dynamic relationship between epidemiological investigations and health interventions aimed at changing the work process associated with occupational injuries and diseases.     

Characterizing the burden of occupational injury and disease

OBJECTIVES: To review the literature on the burden of occupational disease and injury and to provide a comprehensive characterization of the burden. METHODS: The scientific and governmental literature from 1990 to the present was searched and evaluated. Thirty-eight studies illustrative of the burden of occupational disease were reviewed for findings, methodology, strengths, and limitations. RESULTS: Recent U.S. estimates of occupational mortality and morbidity include approximately 55,000 deaths (eighth leading cause) and 3.8 million disabling injuries per year, respectively. Comprehensive estimates of U.S. costs related to these burdens range between dollar 128 billion and dollar 155 billion per year. Despite these significant indicators, occupational morbidity, mortality, and risks are not well characterized in comparative burden assessments. CONCLUSIONS: The magnitude of occupational disease and injury burden is significant but underestimated. There is a need for an integrated approach to address these underestimates.     

上海市闵行区1966～2004年职业病发病状况分析

目的分析上海市闵行区1966-2004年职业病发病状况，为进一步做好职业病防治工作提供依据。方法以闵行区1966-2004年确诊的职业病患者为研究对象，分析职业病种类、发病趋势和患者年龄等特征。结果39年来闵行区共计发生1821例职业病，其中，尘肺病例798例，居第1位，占职业病总病例的43．82％；职业中毒435例，占职业病总病例的23．89％。职业病患者以男性为主（1441例），发病年龄中位数为42岁，发病人数有逐年上升的趋势。引起职业中毒的主要危害因素为粉尘和铅。结论尘肺和职业中毒是该区的主要职业病，职业中毒和职业性皮肤病、职业性眼病发病人数呈逐年上升趋势，提示职业病防治的重点是易引起这几类职业病发病的重点行业。     

Estimating the total number of newly-recognized silicosis cases in the United States

BACKGROUND: The US employer-based surveillance system for documenting occupational injuries and illnesses undercounts chronic diseases. We suggest a method to estimate the number of individuals who are newly-recognized with silicosis each year in the United States. METHODS: Data from US death certificates, the Michigan state-based surveillance system, and capture-recapture analysis were used to calculate national estimates of silicosis. RESULTS: From 1987 to 1996, 2,787 deaths occurred in the United States where silicosis was mentioned on the death certificates. During the same period, in Michigan 77% of death certificates with a mention of silicosis were confirmed as silicosis-related deaths and the ratio of the number of living to deceased confirmed silicosis cases was 6.44. The proportion of confirmed silicosis deaths, the ratio of the living to deceased silicosis cases and capture-recapture analysis from the Michigan surveillance system, were used to estimate that there were 3,600-7,300 cases per year of silicosis in the United States from 1987 to 1996. CONCLUSIONS: Our estimate of the annual number of newly-recognized silicosis cases is significantly larger than the estimate from the employer-based reporting system used for counting occupational disease in the United States. This employer-based surveillance system is inadequate for determining the frequency of occupational disease. Our analysis which combines a readily-available and relatively inexpensive national administrative database (i.e., death certificates) with a more costly state-based active surveillance system is a cost-effective model that could be used to provide better estimates of a number of different occupational diseases. Accurate estimates of occupational illnesses are essential to both determine temporal trends and evaluate efforts to prevent silicosis.     

The ten leading work-related diseases and injuries proposed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

Ten leading work-related diseases and injuries were proposed by the NIOSH to be controlled. These diseases and injuries are occupational lung diseases, musculoskeletal injuries, occupational cancers (other than lung), amputations, fractures, eye loss, lacerations, and traumatic deaths, cardiovascular diseases, disorders of reproduction, neurotoxic disorders, noise induced loss of hearing, dermatologic conditions, and psychologic disorders. Current topics regarding these diseases and injuries are discussed.