Conditions which cause risk factors for railroad transport workers and population: hygienic assessment (on the example of South-Eastern railway)

We performed comparative hygienic assessment of environmental factors and health of population living near the South-Eastern railway and railroad transport workers over 21012–2016 and revealed a trend for environmental quality improvement both at railroad objects and on territories influenced by them. This trend was confirmed by a 3.8 times decrease in specific weight of atmospheric air samples with hazardous substances concentrations exceeding MPC; a decrease in drinking water samples taken from distribution networks which deviated from standards (by 31.5 % as per sanitary-chemical parameters, and by 26.5 %, as per microbiological ones); lower share of soil samples not corresponding to standards (it went down to 0 as per sanitary-chemical parameters, and there was a 1.8 times decrease in it as per microbiological parameters); there was also a decrease in a number of workplaces not corresponding to hygienic standards in terms of physical factors (noise, by 1.6 times lower, microclimate, by 3.1 times, luminance, by 1.7 times) and in terms of MPC levels related to vapors and gases concentrations in working area air (by 4.3 times), as well as dust and aerosols (by 1.6 times). At the same time there are persistent negative trends for dynamic parameters of water reservoirs quality: a specific weight of water samples not corresponding to standards increased, by 3.4 % as per sanitary-chemical parameters, and by 29.2 %, as per microbiological ones. Occupational risks for railroad transport workers still exist. Industrial noise is considered to be a priority risk factor and it corresponds to occupational morbidity structure. 19 occupational morbidity cases were detected at South-Eastern railway over the examined period. Occupational morbidity went down from 1.3 to 0.2 cases per 10,000 workers (from 1.5 to 1.14 per 10,000 workers for the whole railways network). Sensorineural hearing loss amounts to 63.2 % in occupational pathology structure (up to 73 % for the whole railways network). Working conditions of locomotive team members remain the most unfavorable.

Negative environmental factors continue to exert their influence on health. Although primary morbidity among population in general and workers employed by "Russian Railways" PLC ("RR" PLC) over 2012–2016 (by 13.1 % and 13.6 % cor-respondingly), an increase in respiratory organs diseases is detected both among population in general (by 11.2 %), and workers employed by "RR" PLC (by 18.5 %). Besides, respiratory organs diseases make the greatest contribution into primary morbidity. Their specific weight amounts to 26.5–39.8 % among population in general, and to 37.9 %, among "RR" PLC workers. As a whole, morbidity among "RR" PLC workers employed at the South-Eastern railway tends to be 34.7–43.9 % higher than among population in general (by 24.3–36.4 % for the whole railways network), and this fact proves there are additional negative influences exerted by occupational factors. It is also shown that morbidity with temporary disability among 1st category workers has a negative trend (a 5 % increase).