Problems of prevention of occupational pathology in the Russian Arctic

Abstract

Introduction. Working in the Arctic creates an increased risk of developing occupational pathology, leads to a premature restriction of the labour activity. Materials and methods. We studied data of the socio-hygienic monitoring “Working conditions and occupational morbidity» and the register of extracts from occupational disease records (Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation 176 dated May 28, 2001) The aim of the study was to assess causes and circumstances, structure, and number of occupational diseases among employees of Russian Arctic enterprises in 2007–2021. Results. In 2007–2021, Ten thousand three hundred forty three occupational diseases were firstly registered in the Russian Arctic in 8,067 employees, in 75–85% of cases engaged in mining and metallurgical enterprises. In 2007–2015, there was an increase, and in 2016–2021, a decrease in the level of occupational morbidity, which exceeded the national figures by 6.01–10.99 times. The main factor in the development of occupational pathology, the share of which in the structure of all harmful factors increased from 19.0% to 43.9%, is the severity of labour arising from design flaws in equipment and imperfection of technological processes. In 2007–2021, there was an increase in the proportion of vibration disease (from 18.3% to 26.3%) and radiculopathy (from 12.6% to 19.5%), a decrease in the share of sensorineural hearing loss (from 17.9 % to 14.3%) and mono- and polyneuropathy (from 14.1% to 9.1%), but especially significant (5.38 times) – of chronic bronchitis. At the same time, the number of nosological forms of occupational diseases per worker increased from 1.05±0.01 to 1.43±0.03 cases (p<0.05). Limitations. As a limitation of the study, one can consider the locality of the data obtained, which are applicable only to the Arctic territories of Russia. Conclusion. The new data obtained on the causes, number, and structure of occupational diseases indicate the priority for the Russian Arctic to reduce labour severity and improve preventing vibration disease, radiculopathy, and sensorineural hearing loss in mining and metallurgical workers.