Influence of working conditions and dura tion of work on health of northern miners

Abstract

The study covered 401 tunellers/drillers (first group) and 691 maintenance fitter (second group) of underground mines in Transpolar Kola peninsula. Findings are that morbidity structure in the first group, if compared to that of the second one, contained a larger share of locomotory diseases (51.9% and 31.1%) and nervous system diseases (8.2% and 3.3%, p < 0.001). Locomotory system diseases prevalence per 100 workers was 2.55 times higher (189.8 and 74.4 cases), that for nervous system diseases  — 3.74 times (29.9 and 8.0 cases). Lower importance in the tunellers/drillers group was seen for respiratory diseases (8.9% and 11.4%, p<0.02), cardiovascular diseases (5.7% and 13.0%, p<0.001), digestive system diseases (5.3% and 7.6%, p<0.01), eye disorders (9.7% and 18.2%, p<0.001) and endocrine system diseases (2.7% and 5.5%, p<0.001). Risk of all health disorders in the tunellers/drillers was higher than in the maintenance fitters (OR=1.11; DI 1.07–1.15), including locomotory system diseases (OR=1.82; DI 1.42–2.32) and nervous system diseases (OR=2.80; DI 1.26–6.21), it appears since 6–10 years of service. Conclusion is of necessity to further improvement of work conditions and to conduct sanitation measures since first years of miners’ occupational activity, especially for those involved into drilling and tunelling.