АSSESSMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL RISK DRIVERS OF SPECIALIZED VEHICLES

Abstract

Introduction. The problem of preservation of the health of drivers is a topical for most of countries. In the process of working, the mentioned group is exposed to a complex of harmful occupational factors, that both leads to an elevated increased risk for health disorders and increases the risk of road accidents. However, in available sources it was not possible to reveal reports devoted to the study of the impact of the labor conditions of drivers on various health indices on the base of the methodology of occupational risk assessment. The aim of the study is to assess the occupational risk for drivers of specialized vehicles on the basis of indices of pathological affection, calculated on the results of periodic medical examinations. Material and Methods. As a core group there were selected truck drivers (n = 1050), as a comparison group - engineering and technical personnel of the enterprise (n = 1220), matched by age and social indices. The assessment of the occupational morbidity rate was carried out on the base of the analysis of fourfold tables with the use of c2 criteria. The assessment of the degree of the occupational dependence was executed with the calculation of risk indices in accordance with the Guidelines for Risk Assessment. Results. In the course of the study there were obtained results showing drivers to suffer most frequently from diseases of eyes (65.4%), circulatory system (46.6%) and digestive system (11.6%). The main reason for the recognition of drivers as unfit to drive vehicles is hypertension at the II stage and above (71.1%). Also, there is noted an increased occupational risk in drivers for such diseases such as hypertension at the I stage (RR=2.2, CI95%=1.8-2.8, EF=54.5%, a high degree of the relationship with the work); encephalopathy of the vascular genesis (RR = 1.6, CI95%=1.1-2.4, EF = 37.5%), moderate degree of the relationship with the work in the age of older 60 years - is very high); dorsopathies at the lumbosacral level (RR=2.9, CI95%=1.6-5.3, EF=65.7%), a high degree of the relationship with the work at the age of over 50 is almost total); sensorineural hearing loss (RR=1.2, CI95%=0.7-2.0, EF=16.4%), a low degree of the relationship with the work over the age of older 60 years - moderate); hyperopia (RR=2.1, CI95%=1.7-2.5, EF=52.4%, a high degree of the relationship with the work), which determines the priority of preventive measures in relation to these diseases. The potential effect of the preventive measures is most pronounced for the circulatory system diseases in total (NNT = 13.6) and hypertensive disease at the I stage (NNT = 10.0).