On occupational causation of chronic diseases among workers in the mining of copper-zinc ores

Abstract

The mining industry, with its harmful working conditions, remains difficult and dangerous for workers. Scientific studies indicate the existing high risk to the health of workers in the industry as a result of exposure to harmful production factors that are the causes of the development of many non-ommunicable and occupational diseases, disability and mortality. The stages of the study included studying the health status of 856 employees of the mining enterprise, assessing the degree of occupational causation of the identified diseases in terms of relative risk (RR) and etiological proportion (EF). The level of chronic non-infectious pathology among workers of the main professions was determined by the groups of diseases of the musculoskeletal system (43.5 % in the structure), the circulatory system (12.6 %), the digestive system (11 %), the ear and mastoid process (10.9 %), nervous system (10.8 %) and respiratory organs (5.8 %). When calculating the RR and EF indicators, a very high degree of occupational causation of J00–99 class diseases was determined (RR — 3.6, EF — 72.4 %); high degree — diseases of class M00–99 (RR — 3.0, EF — 66.1 %), including vertebrogenic dorsopathy (RR — 2.5, EF —60.6 %), K00–99 (RR — 3.1, EF — 67.5 %) and hearing impairment (RR — 2.6, EF — 61.7 %); average degree — diseases I00–99 (RR — 1.6, EF — 36.8 %), including hypertension (RR — 1.8, EF — 45.8 %). The features of occupational causation of diseases for certain professional categories of workers are determined. The problem of ensuring the safety of working conditions in order to preserve the health of workers in the industry requires the improvement of hygienic and recreational measures, the development of programs to protect and improve the health of workers, the implementation of which will help reduce the risks of workers’ health disorders.