Aposterior assessment of occupational pathology risks in copper-nickel miners

Abstract

Occupational morbidity indicators in the mining industry rank first among all types of economic activity in Russia. The aim of the study was to assess the risks of occupational pathology a posteriori in miners carrying out underground mining of copper-nickel ore in the Kola Arctic. We studied the data of periodic medical examinations and social and hygienic monitoring «Working conditions and occupational morbidity of the population of the Murmansk region.» In 2007, according to the results of medical examinations, 5,007 chronic diseases were identified in 2,042 miners, of which the most common were diseases of the musculoskeletal system (27.7 %) and eye (16.9 %). In 2008–2018, 166 (8.1 %) miners were first diagnosed with 303 occupational diseases, mainly due to increased labor severity (51.5 %) caused by imperfect technological processes (77.6 %). The highest risk of developing occupational diseases was noted among the operators of drilling and tunneling rigs, which significantly exceeded the rates among miners of all other specialties. During labor activity, diseases of the musculoskeletal system most often acquired occupational etiology (41.7 % of all cases). In the structure of nosological forms of occupational diseases, the first places were occupied by vibration disease (21.1 %), radiculopathy (18.5 %) and sensorineural hearing loss (17.5 %). The largest number of cases of occupational diseases per year per 10,000 workers was observed among drillers (540.5 cases) and crushers (441.6 cases), and the smallest — among locksmiths (18.5 cases) and engineering and technical workers (15.5 cases). At present, the modernization of ore mining processes and personal protective equipment, as well as the system of medical measures, do not provide solutions to the problems of preserving the health of the copper-nickel miners of the Kola Polar region.