Assessing occupational risks for workers employed at heat-power engineering enterprises

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UDC: 
613.6: 061.5: 629.7
DOI: 
10.21668/health.risk/2020.1.07.eng
Authors: 

M.V. Kuleshova, V.A. Pankov

Organization: 

East-Siberian Institute of Medical and Ecological Research, 12 a the 3rd micro-district, Angarsk, 665827, Russian Federation

Abstract: 

Our research goal was to assess occupational health risks and analyze whether it was possible to assess occupational risks for workers employed at heat-power engineering enterprises applying the same procedures as those used in the our research.
Our research involved basic occupational groups of workers employed at a heat-power engineering enterprise. They were power generating unit drivers, repairmen, and electricians responsible for electric machinery repair and maintenance. Hygienic assessment of working conditions was performed according to the valid regulatory and methodical documents. Occupational morbidity was analyzed on the basis of data arrays that contained data taken from Reports on occupational diseases (intoxications). Occupational risks were assessed as per Fine Kinney risk assessment method, matrix method, and Guide R 2.2.1766-2003; we also performed a semi-quantitative risk assessment.
Labor performed by power generating unit drivers belonged to 3.2 hazard category as per related hazards, its hardness, and intensity; repairmen, 3.3 hazard category; electricians responsible for electrical machinery repair and maintenance, 3.3 hazard category. Occupational morbidity among workers employed at enterprises dealing with energy production and distribution in Irkutsk region was analyzed over 2000–2018; the analysis revealed there was a decrease in first diagnosed occupational diseases and the most frequent nosology was sensorineural hearing loss. Occupational risk assessment performed as per different procedures indicates that obtained results are rather ambiguous. Semi-quantitative risk assessment, Finn Kinney method, and the “Finnish” model turned out to be subjective but it is still possible to apply them provided that it is done by highly qualified experts in the sphere of labor safety and occupational risks management. The most objective risk assessment procedure allows assessing probability of damage to health applying parameters that describe deviations in adverse or hazardous occupational factors from maximum permissible concentrations and levels and a cause-and effect relation with risk (Guide G 2.2.1766-03).

Keywords: 
workers employed at heat-power engineering enterprises, working conditions, occupational morbidity, sensorineural hearing loss, occupationally morbidity, occupational risk, risk assessment procedures, occupational risk factors
Kuleshova M.V., Pankov V.A. Assessing occupational risks for workers employed at heat-power engineering enterprises. Health Risk Analysis, 2020, no. 1, pp. 68–75. DOI: 10.21668/health.risk/2020.1.07.eng
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Received: 
04.12.2020
Accepted: 
09.02.2020
Published: 
30.03.2020

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