Health Status Of Workers Research Articles

Unpacking Occupational Health Data in the Service Sector: From Bayesian Networking and Spatial Clustering to Policy-Making

The health status of the service sector workforce is a significant unknown in the field of medical geography. While spatial epidemiology has made progress in predicting the relationship between human health and the environment, there are still important challenges that remain unsolved. The main issue lies in the inability to statistically determine and visually represent all spatial concepts, as there is a need to cover a wide range of service activities while also considering the impact of numerous traditional medical variables and emerging risk factors, such as those related to socioeconomic and bioclimatic factors. This study aims to address the needs of health professionals by defining, prioritizing, and visualizing multiple occupational health risk factors that contribute to the well-being of workers. To achieve this, a methodological approach based on the synergy of Bayesian machine learning and geostatistics is proposed. Extensive data from occupational health surveillance tests were collected in Spain, along with socioeconomic and bioclimatic covariates, to assess potential social and climate impacts on health. This integrated approach enabled the identification of relevant patterns related to risk factors. A three-step geostatistical modeling process, including variography, ordinary kriging, and G clustering, was used to generate national distribution maps for various factors such as annual mean temperature, annual rainfall, spine health, limb health, cholesterol, age, and sleep quality. These maps considered four target activities—administration, finances, education, and hospitality. Remarkably, bioclimatic variables were found to contribute approximately 9% to the overall health status of workers.

Investigation on health status of workers exposed to glyphosate

Objective: To analyze the concentrations of glyphosate and its metabolites in occupational exposed workers and their possible effects on human health, so as to provide a reference for improving the safe use of glyphosate and toxicity research. Methods: From April to December 2020, 247 workers directly exposed to glyphosate in 5 enterprises were selected as the contact group, and 237 workers who were not exposed to glyphosate and other pesticides in the same enterprise were selected as the control group. Questionnaire survey and occupational health examination were conducted on objects, and the concentrations of glyphosate and its metabolites in the air of workplaces and biological samples were detected. The correlation between the concentrations and the difference of health examination between the two groups were analyzed. Results: The urine glyphosate concentration (0.022-47.668 mg/L), the rate of exceeding the standard (60.32%, 149/247) and the urine aminomethyl phosphonic acid concentration (<0.010-1.624 mg/L) in the contact group were higher than those in the control group [urine glyphosate concentration (<0.020-4.482 mg/L), the rate of exceeding the standard (2.53%, 6/237) and the urine aminomethyl phosphonic acid concentration (<0.010-0.524 mg/L) ], respectively (P<0.001). The exceeding standard rate of glyphosate concentration in the workplace was 33.67% (33/98). The concentration of glyphosate in the workplace was positively correlated with the concentrations of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid in urine (r(s)=0.804, 0.238, P<0.001), and the concentration of glyphosate in urine was positively correlated with the concentration of aminomethylphosphonic acid in urine (r(s)=0.549, P<0.001). The alanine aminotransferase (ALT), white cell ratio, creatinine, uric acid, the abnormal rates of ALT and total protein (TP) in the contact group were higher than those in the control group, and TP was lower than that in the control group, the differences were statistically different (P<0.05). The abnormal rates of overall liver function, overall renal function, blood routine test, urine routine test, electrocardiogram, liver B ultrasound and blood lipid in the contact group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05) . Conclusion: The concentration of glyphosate in the workplace is related to the concentrations of glyphosate and aminomethyl phosphonic acid in the urine of workers, and exposure to glyphosate may have some harmful effects on human health.

Assessment of respiratory health status of workers in flour mills of Assiut

BackgroundWorking environment should not present a risk of injury or disease but many thousands of workers worldwide remain exposed to hazardous substances particularly in developing countries. Flour dust is one of those hazardous substances to which the flour mills workers are exposed to, inhalation of flour dust may cause diverse lung diseases with different severity of symptoms ranging from simple irritation to allergic reaction and chronic respiratory disorders, including asthma. Therefore, the present study was done to detect the prevalence of respiratory problems among flour mills workers.MethodsThe study was carried out in the flour mills of Assiut, it was a cross-sectional study among 203 workers. The study instruments were a semi-structured questionnaire about respiratory symptoms, chest examination and pulmonary function tests (PFT).ResultsThe age of the study workers ranged from 19 to 60 years old, 94.1% were males, 50.7% were from urban regions. Pulmonary function abnormalities were found in 36.4% of them and 20.7% were diagnosed with bronchial asthma. Significant relationships were detected between abnormal pulmonary function tests and workers ≥ 40 years old, low educational level and those who worked in the flour mills for ≥ 10 years.ConclusionsFlour dust cause respiratory symptoms and impair the pulmonary function of the flour mills workers and they may develop bronchial asthma which affect their work efficiency.RecommendationsMedical care must be provided regularly to the flour mills workers and safety measures are mandatory.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov. NCT03678519. Registered August 10, 2022.

Optimizing health and nutrition status of migrant construction workers consuming multiple micronutrient fortified rice in Singapore.

A well-nourished workforce is instrumental in eradicating hunger, alleviating poverty, and spurring economic growth. A fifth of the total workforce in high-income countries are migrant workers. Despite the accessibility of nutritious foods in high-income countries, migrant workers often rely on nutrient-poor diets largely consisting of empty calories, which in turn leads to vitamin and mineral deficiency, also called hidden hunger, and resultant productivity loss. Here, we study the magnitude of hidden hunger in male migrant construction workers in Singapore and investigate the impact of consuming fortified rice for 6 consecutive months on the nutrition and health status of these workers. 140 male migrant workers aged 20-51 years of either Bangladeshi or Indian ethnicity from a single dormitory in Singapore volunteered to participate in the study. In total, 133 blood samples were taken at the start of the study and were used to assess vitamin B12, hemoglobin, ferritin, folate, and zinc levels; a sub-sample underwent for homocysteine testing. Anthropometric measurements and vital signs, such as blood pressure, were recorded before and after the intervention. The results show that vitamin and mineral deficiency was present, especially folate (59% of workers deficient) and vitamin B12 (7% deficient, 31% marginally deficient). The consumption of fortified rice significantly improved the vitamin, iron and zinc level in the workers and significantly reduced the systolic blood pressure amongst the Bangladeshi migrant workers, specifically. Our study demonstrates that fortified rice may have a positive impact on male migrant construction worker health and nutrition status at the workplace.

Physical and mental morbidity pattern among female cashew workers in Kollam district, Kerala

Background: The cashew processing is a labour-intensive work with a significant number of female workers. Majority belong to low socioeconomic status and so they join this sector to meet up their daily living. Long hours of work, greater work load and increased family burden lead to increase in morbidity status among workers. As comorbidities gets unnoticed and ignored, there is occurrence of early morbidity as well as mortality in these working groups and this is one of the major concerns. Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted among female cashew workers in Kollam district, Kerala. Data was collected using interviewer administered questionnaire using stratified multistage cluster sampling method. Seven workers each were selected from shelling, peeling and grading processing units from eight private and two government factories. Data entered in micrososft excel, coded and analyzed using SPSS software version 25. Descriptive statistics for qualitative data were expressed as frequency and percentages and quantitative data as mean and standard deviation Results: Out of 210 participants, 95.4% workers were suffering from one or the other morbidities. Arthralgia was the major concern followed by allergy, hypertension and thyroid. Prehypertensive state was found to be present among all participants. Anxiety noticed in majority of participants. Conclusions: Frequent medical check-ups, recreational activities and health education sessions needs to be implemented in all cashew factories to lessen the morbidity and to up bring the health status of workers.

Health effects of informal precarious workers in occupational environments with high exposure to pollutants.

The aim is to investigate and describe the health conditions of workers who are employed in precarious work settings in Mexico. Specifically, the study aims to provide insight on the health status of workers who are vulnerable due to the informal nature of their employment. Through the evaluation of three different scenarios of precarious employment (n = 110), including workers in mercury miner (workers A), brick-kilns (workers B), and quarries workers (workers C). The study analyzes clinical parameters to determine the workers' renal health condition and assesses their pulmonary function using spirometry. Multivariate analyses and Spearman correlation are performed to determine the contribution of length of service to workers' health parameters. Workers B have the highest incidence of clinical health alterations, with the highest BMI and prediabetes/diabetes index, albumin creatinine ratio, and eGFR. Moreover, pulmonary function parameters show a decrease in %FEV1/FVC in workers B and C compared to workers A, while workers A demonstrate a more significant decrease in %FEV1. Additionally, a negative correlation is observed between the length of service in precarious work settings and lung parameters (r = -0.538, p < 0.001). In conclusion, this study highlights the need to address the issue of precarious employment in Mexico by improving working conditions, access to healthcare and promoting social protection for workers, which can reduce the number of work-related illnesses and deaths and ensure the safety and health of workers.

Изучение роли профессиональных факторов в возникновении новообразований у работников портовых предприятий г. Новороссийска

According to the scientific literature, when studying the health status of workers engaged in various activities at port enterprises, it was revealed that they have a high risk of diseases of the visual organs, pathology of the ent organs and the endocrine system. A number of researchers believe that working at the port is a factor that increases the risk of diseases of the urinary system. According to other data, port work increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Many authors have presented results confirming the negative impact of professional activity in the port on human health, which increases the risk of developing such chronic non-communicable diseases as diabetes mellitus and malignant neoplasms. The increase in cancer incidence remains a problem worldwide, and advances in diagnosis and treatment do not lead to a significant reduction in morbidity and mortality. Undoubtedly, the priority reasons determining the growth of oncological morbidity of the population are various environmental factors, including occupational harmfulness.

Attracting adolescents to become doctors and nurses: differential importance of personal and environmental factors in 61 economies

BackgroundDoctors and nurses play a fundamental role in maintaining global health systems and achieving universal health care coverage. However, significant shortages persist, and little is known about the popularity of these careers among young people in various economies or the relative impact of personal inputs and contextual factors.MethodsUsing data from the large-scale Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, we showed the recent distribution of adolescents' medical (doctor) and nursing career expectations in 61 economies. With multilevel logistic and hierarchical linear regression, we examined the relative importance of economic indicators, health work conditions, and personal background factors in affecting adolescents' health career expectations.ResultsApproximately 11% of adolescents expected to be doctors in each economy, while only 2% expected to be nurses. Adolescents were attracted to health professions mainly by system-level favourable conditions (accounting for 1/3 variance), including (a) government health expenditure beyond that expected gross domestic product (GDP); (b) a safe working environment for doctors in wealthy nations; and (c) high salaries for nurses in less-developed economies. In contrast, adolescents' background (gender, social status, and academic ability) was less influential, explaining only 10% of the differences.ConclusionsIn the technological and digital era, high-ability students are equally competitive for emerging careers other than doctors and nurses. In developing countries, a high salary package and societal respect are enough to attract adolescents to nursing careers. In contrast, for developed countries, extra expenditures beyond regular GDP allocation and a safe work environment are crucial in attracting adolescents to become doctors. Salary may effectively attract international-trained doctors and nurses, but the work environment will likely emerge as an essential factor in retaining migrants in their positions.Trial registration number: No human participants were involved in this study.

Thematic analysis: Physical, psychological, and social pressures on taxi drivers of Lahore

The taxi industry plays a significant role in urban transportation systems in commercial and flexible terms. This study aimed to investigate drivers’ overall pressures and constraints, such as; physical, psychological, and social pressures. The goal of this study was to provide practical recommendations for the betterment of this industry, such as approved authentic work timings, workload reduction, maximum 8 hours driving, and fixed stops to detect, distinguish and treat physical and mental health related to the job specification, training, and development courses to cope with mental, physical, and occupational stress to promote positive changes. The study consisted of 8 male taxi drivers recruited using a purposive sampling technique. A qualitative research design was used. A series of questions was administered to taxi drivers after taking consent from the participants. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data after data collection. This article provides an inclusive evaluation of work conditions and factors that impact upon overall well-being of taxi drivers. The result indicates that social pressures, physical health, psychological health, financial pressures and Unhealthy work conditions impact upon overall well-being of the taxi-drivers.

Benefits and Challenges of Transitioning Occupational Health to an Enterprise Electronic Health Record.

Occupational health (OH) documentation has traditionally been separate from health system electronic health records (EHRs), but this can create patient safety and care continuity challenges. Herein, we describe outcomes and challenges of such integration including how one health system managed compliance with laws, regulations, and ethical principles concerning digital privacy. Occupational health integration with the enterprise EHR at the University of California San Diego Health was started in June 2021 and completed in December 2021. Integrating with the enterprise EHR allowed for a secure telehealth system, faster visit times, digitization of questionnaires medical clearance forms, and improved reporting capabilities. Integration and interoperability are fundamental building blocks to any OH EHR solution and will allow for evaluation of worker population trends, and targeted interventions to improve worker health status.

Исследование самооценки качества жизни работающего населения Российской Федерации

The commonality of the goals of occupational health and safety and medicine is to ensure working conditions that contribute to the preservation of the employee health. For professions, in which it is not possible to exclude the possibility of a negative impact of occupational hazards and harmfulness, timely detection of health disorders and medical restrictions on the performance of certain types of work help to preserve the worker health. However, in the occupational medicine, little attention is paid to the subjective assessment of the health of industrial employees. The purpose of the study is to establish the degree of influence on the psychosomatic state of the mining and processing plant underground workers of working conditions associated with the profession, experience, the presence of an assigned preferential pension, as well as comparison with similar indicators for workers in other manufacturing industries. The analysis of the subjective assessment of the quality of life of miners was carried out using the Russian version of the SF-36 questionnaire, according to the results of which the self-assessment of the quality of life of miners admitted by the medical commission to work exceeds 50 points, for those who did not pass the medical commission (23.28 % of the total) subjective indicators of physical and mental health are less than 50 points. There is a trend towards a decrease in the quality of the life indicators with an increase in length of service to the minimum values by 35 years of work, which is noted in the published questionnaire studies of the highly-skilled workers of the enterprises in other branches of industry. In the group of highly-skilled workers over 36 years, the majority of whom are pensioners (less than 60 years, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation) of pre-retirement age, the workers with physical and mental health indicators comparable to the self-assessment of the quality of life of miners who worked at the enterprise for less than 20 years remain in the profession. A review of studies at other enterprises with harmful and hazardous working conditions allows to judge that the decrease in the physical and mental tone of the quality of life of the highly-skilled workers is aggravated by the presence and severity of the diseases received, as well as the level of industrial potential of the enterprise. The obtained results of the objective and subjective dynamics of the health status of workers in harmful and hazardous working conditions can form the basis for the development of preventive measures to reduce occupational risks.

Work-related Skin Disease Symptoms in Tofu Makers in Cipayung District

Introduction: One of the risks that may come from exposure to chemicals, physics, and biological agents in the interaction of processes in industrial activities, particularly in the business of making tofu in the tofu maker's environment, is a work-related skin disease. The number of years of employment, chemical exposure and the time spent each day, hand-washing routines, and the use of personal protective equipment while at work are additional risk factors known to influence the frequency of occupational skin disorders. This study seeks to obtain information about the symptoms and some risk factors of work-related skin diseases in tofu makers in Jalan Raya X, Cipayung District. Methods: The analytical cross-sectional design with a chi-square test was carried out with 50 tofu makers as the total research sample. Measurements were made using the modified Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire (NOSQ-2002)/LONG. Results: The study found that 46% (23 people) of tofu makers did experience symptoms of work-related skin diseases. As many as 84% (42 people) of tofu makers with a working period of more than 3 years, and as many as 96% (50 people) had exposure 3 hours per day. As many as 62% (31 people) had bad hand-washing habits, and 96% (48 people) did not fully use personal protective equipment. Conclusion: Improvement of supporting facilities and infrastructures in the production area, such as air circulation systems, modification of machinery and equipment, setting working hours, and providing proper cleaning facilities will increase the health status of workers.

Analysis on health status and influencing factors of 1353 mercury workers in Xinjiang

Objective: To investigate the health status of workers exposed to occupational mercury, and to provide the theoretical basis for formulating reasonable health monitoring and targeted protection measures. Methods: In November 2021, 1353 mercury-exposed workers who underwent occupational health examination in a hospital in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from 2018 to 2021 were collected as research subjects. By analyzing their blood pressure, electrocardiogram, blood routine, liver function and urine β2-microglobulin and urinary mercury in different gender, age, length of service, industry and enterprise scale, and the health status. And the influencing factors of urinary mercury were evaluated. Results: Among 1353 workers exposed to mercury, there were 1002 males (74.1%), the average age was (37.2±9.8) years old, and the length of service was 3.1 (2.0, 8.0) years. The abnormal rates of physical examination, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, blood routine, liver function, urinary β2-microglobulin and urinary mercury were 73.9% (1000/1353), 12.3% (166/1353), 30.2% (408/1353), 59.9% (810/1353), 32.5% (440/1353), 15.2% (205/1353) and 2.2% (30/1353), respectively. The abnormal rates of blood pressure, blood routine, liver function, urinary β2-microglobulin and urinary mercury in male workers were higher than those in female workers (P<0.05). The abnormal rates of workers' blood pressure and physical examination results increased with the increase of age and length of service, while the abnormal rate of electrocardiogram results were opposite (P<0.05). There were statistically significant differences in the abnormal rates of blood pressure, blood routine, urinary β2-microglobulin and physical examination results among workers of different enterprises and different industries (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the workers with age ≥30 years old, microminiature enterprises, abnormal physical examination results and urinary β2-microglobulin were the susceptible population with abnormal urinary mercury (P<0.05) . Conclusion: The occupational health status of mercury workers in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is not optimistic, and the health monitoring of microminiature enterprises and older workers should be improved to effectively protect the physical and mental health of workers.

Impact of the Health Status of Workers on Their Fatigability and Vulnerability to Occupational Risk Factors

Introduction: To improve the reliability of predictive models of workers’ health risk, it is necessary to take into account individual characteristics of workers, especially their age and health status. Fatigability should be used to identify and assess vulnerability of an employee to effects of external factors. Objective: To study quantitative patterns of the relationship between the health status of workers and their fatigability and vulnerability to occupational risk factors. Materials and methods: The study was conducted in 2016–2021 and involved 751 industrial workers, 750 healthcare professionals, 193 educators, and 229 public catering employees, who underwent a medical examination and a standardized medical and environmental survey at the North-West Public Health Research Center in St. Petersburg. We assessed vulnerability of employees to such occupational factors as the workload, effort-reward imbalance, noise, microclimate, air quality, and lack of free (nonworking) time. We also assessed and compared the relative risk of vulnerability for workers with/without health disorders. Results: We established increased vulnerability to occupational risk factors in the workers with chronic diseases and health deterioration observed during the previous year. Occupational factors were ranked by the criterion of vulnerability (fatigability) for those with the impaired health status. Conclusions: Health impairments of the employees revealed in the course of periodic medical examinations induce a 1.2–2.5-fold increase in the frequency of vulnerability to most occupational risk factors. Deteriorating health causes a fold increase in the frequency of vulnerability to all occupational factors considered. All workers’ health disorders under study cause a 1.3 to 12-fold increase in vulnerability to the workload.

Occupational exposure to work-related stress, a proposal of a pilot study to detect psychological distress in collar-workers.

Work-related psychosocial risks have been identified as significant occupational health and safety risks; the occupational physicians must assess and monitor the health status of workers in order to verify that work is not a source of harm to exposed operators. The aim of the study was to investigate the outcomes related to anxiety and depression traits in workers exposed to stress-related work. A questionnaire was administered to a large population of Italian public administration workers; the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression Scale questionnaire was used to measure depression, the Self rating Anxiety Scale was used to measure anxiety, the UK Management Standards Indicator tool questionnaire was used to assess work adjustment. A descriptive analysis, a multivariate analysis, as well as logistic regression models were used to assess the health outcomes related to stress. A total of 292 workers participated in the study; 100% of participants had a Centre for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression Scale score over the cut-off; 41.78% had a Self rating Anxiety Scale score over the cut-off; the results support a correlation between the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression Scale results and the UK Management Standards Indicator tool results; and a correlation between Self-rating Anxiety Scale results and the UK Management Standards Indicator tool results. The Demand, Management, Support and Relationship results were associated with mental health outcomes, and it could be a useful tool in occupational medicine, to identify workers at risk for negative mental health outcomes, becoming an essential tool in workers' health assessment and for prevention of mental health disorders.

TIME AND WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT

Nowadays, industries are growing faster as they don't have time to manage every piece of thing by a single individual. Here comes the automated web tool. It is mainly used in industries to calculate the estimated time to complete a particular task. Automation is yielding high production often time with minimum resources like Raw materials, Time, Import and Export, Working of machines, and Health conditions of workers. It includes a step-by-step process from taking the order to fulfilling the user requirements. This study abridged to reduce the burden on industries and estimates the time to deliver the product to the consumer. This tool helps us to create templates and orders, keep track of them via mail and update them accordingly. And it differentiates the current status of the product with various color coding based on a time-generated automation tool. Here all the tasks will be shown in the calendar view to identify easily by date filtration. It shows only required information to the departments and the remaining data are stored on servers. All these processes were done in the background by an automation tool and only results will be shown to the user. Key Words: Raw materials, Time, Import and Export, Working of machines, and Health conditions of workers.

Association Between Socio-Dynamic and Other Individuals Characteristics on Perceptions of Occupational Safety Among Workers in Kathmandu, Nepal

Background: Occupational safety is questioned in developing countries like Nepal. Health-care workers have been exposed to potential risks due to different kinds of hazards at their workplace. They are responsible for providing a safe climate for others, which is why their safety should be given high priority, ensuring that they feel safe. Objective: This study has aimed to provide insight into overall healthcare workers perceptions of the available hospital safety facilities and strategies adopted in the hospitals of Kathmandu, Nepal. Methods: The findings of this study are anticipated to assist the hospital industry and agencies to formulate plans and policies to improve safety precautions in hospital duties. For the perception and attitude of workers and nurses towards the safety and health status of workers, the primary data were collected from workers and nurses based on a questionnaire of two different sets, including demographic data. Data from workers and nurses was collected based on the questionnaire ranking the causes of accidents. Results: The study results indicate that several perception-based and socio-demographic variables were found to be significantly associated with the safety perception of workers and nurses. Among the perception-related variables, work motivation and education and training were found to significantly shape the workers’ and nurses' perceptions during hospital duties. These results suggest that the management could increase the incentives and rewards for the workers and deliver safety education and training to make them feel safe working in a hospital. Conclusion: Among socio-demographic variables, gender, household size, household income, and personal income were statistically significant, and worker types, marital status, and possession of permanence were marginally significant predictors of workers’ safety perceptions.

Applying Elvie - Tool for Psychosocial Risk Assessment: Results of a Case Study

Abstract About half of European workers believe that stress is common in their workplace and that it is the cause of about half of all lost working days. In Europe, 25% of workers report suffering from work stress all the time or most of their working time, with a similar percentage reporting that stress adversely affects their health. Estimates of costs borne by employers and society are considerable, amounting to tens of billions of euros at European level. Considering the exponential increase in the last decade of the impact of occupational stress and the direct implications on the health and well-being of workers, coupled with the low level of attention paid to this risk by employers and labor inspectorates in Romania, this paper aimed at developing a company-level research to validate the applicability of a specific psychosocial risk assessment tool. The preliminary results obtained confirmed the need to increase the real attention paid to this component of the health status of workers - and implicitly of enterprises - allowing the substantiation of a plan of measures designed to minimize psychosocial risks in the investigated company.

UI Design of Medical Check-Up Information System at Pratama Clinic Based on Design Thinking Method

Medical Chek Up (MCU) or Periodic health checks are part of occupational health services that are the right of every worker and as part of preventing health risks to all workers and to reduce the risk of sudden death due to illness in the workplace, it is necessary to carry out annual periodic health checks as a worker obligation that must be carried out once a year. The purpose of this study was to design the User Interface (UI) of the Medical Check-Up Mobile application to make it easier for workers to find out the results of their examinations and doctors can evaluate the health status of workers. The object of this study was carried out at the Pratama Clinic of PT. Pertamina Patra Niaga Sub Holding Marketing Region Sumbagsel. The research method in this study is a descriptive method that is usually used to solve problems, by describing and describing the classified data. While the design method used is Design Thinking. The results of the User Interface design can later be used as a proposal to the Pratama Clinic of PT Pertamina Patra Niaga Subholding Marketing Sumbagsel Region for further implementation by the Internal IT Team.

The elaboration of preventive measures when working in an open area during the cold season of the year

Introduction. The extraction of minerals is associated with a permanent or periodic stay of workers at open production sites. However, there is an underestimation of the impact of working meteorological factors on the health both in the system of regulation and control over working conditions. The aim of the study is to scientifically substantiate approaches to the development of preventive measures to minimize the risk of health disorders and inform about the risk when working in an open area during the cold season. Materials and methods. The study included employees of the oil-producing enterprise of Western Siberia Samotlorneftegaz, performing labour operations in open areas during the cold season (operators, machinists, repairmen). The study included three stages: a priori risk assessment, a posteriori risk assessment, and an assessment of the individual characteristics of employees. The a priori risk assessment based on production control data and a special assessment of working conditions for the period from 2014 to 2018. A posteriori risk assessment based on data from periodic medical examinations. Personal characteristics based on the results of a questionnaire, in natural and model tests. Results. A quantitative assessment of a priori and a posteriori risk made it possible to identify groups of workers with a significant risk of developing occupational and general pathology, as well as to prioritize preventive measures aimed at preventing the harmful effects of working environment factors and the labour process on the health of an employee. The assessment of local and general violations of thermoregulation in workers performing labour operations in open areas during the cold season made it possible to establish individual risk factors: prolonged work in open areas (more than 60% of working time), the presence of chronic pathology, smoking habit and work experience. Limitations. As part of this study, the assessment of the health status of workers based on data from periodic medical examinations. At the same time, the study does not include the results of medical examinations at the place of residence of workers, which can expand data on the health status of workers and be the subject of further research. Further research on the stated topic may be associated with the need to assess an additional list of individual characteristics when working in an open area during the cold season, taking into account genetic and biochemical markers. Conclusion. The results obtained made it possible to substantiate a set of measures to minimize the risk of health disorders at the level of primary prevention, as well as to propose measures at the level of secondary prevention.